Bat for Dad and Birds for Brothers
by Kirsten Erin
Summary: Sapphire was captured by the Joker in a failed attempt to kidnap Batgirl. When the Batclan saves her from both he and her abusive father, it's not long before she becomes Dark Falcon. Now there's a plot to take down the JL and she's on the hit list.
1. A Very Bad Day

**Chapter 1- A really bad day**

_"Your hand's coming down again  
I close my eyes and brace myself  
I only notice your face  
No matter what you're gonna build my shell  
No matter what you're gonna build my shell"  
-I'm Sorry by Flyleaf-_

You know, I never thought I would end up fighting crime. I was too busy being the victim of it. I guess you could say I had a hard life. My dad was abusive and because of it, I had major trust issues- though somehow I still grew close to my adoptive brothers, Tim and Dick. But I guess I'm getting ahead of myself. I should start at the beginning.

I sigh as I get out of bed. Dad's already gone, as usual. Another glorious day at school- Ugh! I pull my bright red hair into a long french braid that ends at the middle of my back. I look in the mirror, my green eyes are still half-closed from my lack of sleep. I search the closet and slip on some dark jeans and a gray short-sleeved shirt and pull on my tennis shoes before running out the door with my backpack.

I'm glad when the day finally ends and I pull my backpack out of my locker, making my way toward the door. I hear a few snickers coming from some of the so-called 'popular' girls as I walk by, not that I care. It's nothing new.

I get to the diner where I work and put on an apron. I hate being a waitress, but it's the best I can come by right now. It pays the bills, unlike my father, so it's good for something.

"Hey honey." one of the guys at a booth says as I hand him his coffee. It's almost closing time and I'm cleaning up. "I'd take orders from you any day."

Sometimes people just disgust me. Why do guys always say stuff like that to me?  
"Get a life." I answer him. He grabs my wrist angrily and pulls me back, twisting it painfully.

"Girl, you'd better talk to me with some respect." he says towering over me. My eyes narrow.

"I'll give you respect when you deserve it." I pull my wrist free and give him a good punch with the other hand, sending him sprawling over the table.

When I finally get home, my Dad's still not. This probably means he's out drinking again. Great.

As if on cue, my dad comes storming through the door and slams it quickly. I bite my lip, fully aware of what's in store.

Before I can even say "Hello" my dad punches me in the eye and I fall back and hit the kitchen counter. I struggle to pick myself up, wondering what happened this time to make him so angry. I never understand why he takes it out on me.

I used to think it was my fault he beat me when he was mad. I thought it was because I wasn't a good enough daughter and if I were, things would be better. I'm older now and know better than that.

He gives me a good punch in the stomach and I hit the counter again, closing my eyes from the pain. Without another word, he trudges to his room and slams the door.

Once I know he's gone, I pull myself up and grab an ice pack from the fridge. I have plenty. I hold this one to my eye and wrap my arm around my stomach as I wonder how I'm going to cover up a black eye for school tomorrow. I figure I'll just tell everyone what I always do- I got in a fight.

I go up to my room and close the door before turning on the light. I close my eyes and lean my head against the door for a moment.

"Sorry to interrupt." a girl's voice said behind me. I spin around only to see The Joker and Harlequinn. It was the latter that had spoken. Two large men flanked them.

I drop my ice pack as my mouth drops open and eyes widen in shock. I'm frozen in place, afraid to move or even breathe.

"Wh-What are you doing in my room?" I ask cautiously, racking my brain for a way to get out.

"Why I should think you of all people would know, Batgirl." The Clown Prince of Crime informs me.

"What did you just call me?" I ask, confused. I've heard of Batgirl, I live in Gotham, I ought to. But this? He thinks _I'm_ Batgirl?

"Come on, we've got a bat to catch."

* * *

"Where is he? You'd think he'd notice when one of his Bats went missing." The clown was saying. I roll my eyes. Of course, he wouldn't notice!

"You ever think it could be because I'm not Batgirl?" I ask sarcastically. I'm getting really tired of this whole kidnapping thing.

"I dunno, puddin'!" Harley answers, ignoring me. They had tied me to a chair and I was still trying to figure out how to get free.

"I'm not Batgirl." I say once again. "And Batman's not coming."

"Your demeanor says otherwise." he laughs. "Normal people would be terriffied right now." He obviously has no idea how freaked out I am and my heart flip-flops inside my chest. I'm just really good with masking my emotions. One of the few bright sides to being raised in an abusive home, of course at this moment it's not even a bright side.

"Maybe I just don't like you." I answer coolly.

Just then a few marbles fall from the ceiling and land next to Harley. Smoke erupts from them as three figures drop from the ceiling.

"Miss me?" Batgirl asks the Joker with a smile. Harley rushes at her and a fight ensues. Batman and Joker brawl as well.

"Need a little help?" A kid said beside me. I can barely see him through the smoke, but recognize him as the new Robin. He pulls out a batarang and cuts the cords around my arms and legs.

"Thanks." I say. Joker had a couple of henchmen at this building, wherever it was, and now they decide to make an appearance. There were about five of them and two of us.

"Go now!" Robin says and I don't have to be told twice. I find a stack of crates and start to climb them. Two of the men had followed me while the other three had stayed with the kid. The men are right behind me and I'm scrambling over the boxes until I come to the top. Crap! I'm trapped now! I turn to face my attackers, inching back until the back of my heel reaches the edge of the crate. I notice a pipe above me and a plan formulates in my mind.

The first guy rushes at me and I jump up, grabbing the pipe and swing over it, thankful I'm a gymnast. The man flies off the edge and hits another crate, rendering him unconscious. As I come back over it, I straighten out my legs and kick the other guy in the middle of the chest and he falls back onto the crates. I round the pipe again and do a little flip, landing beside the man. He grabs me by the ankle and trips me. He stands and grabs a broken section of pipe, steadying it in his hands. I know this is not going to turn out good. This guy is going to knock me upside the head with a pipe. I start scooting back away from guy raises the pipe and is about to strike when a pair of black boots make contact with his side and he flies off the edge like the other guy. I look at my rescuer, none other than the Batman. Batgirl and Robin are at his side moments later.

"That was pretty impressive." Batman says gruffly as he offers me a hand. I gratefully accept it.

"I'm a gymnast." I shrug. This seems to make Batgirl smile for some reason.

"Are you okay?" she asks me. "You've got a pretty nasty black eye." I touch my eye self-consciously.

"It's nothing." I answer quickly.

"Let's get you to the Commissioner." Batman says and grabs my waist as he shoots his grapple gun. The other two are right behind him.

In a few moments, we are outside and standing in front of Commissioner Gordon.

"Here's the hostage, Commissioner." He tells him. The older man looks me over with a confused expression.

"Why would the Joker take her?"

"He thought she was me." Batgirl offered, pointing out her own red hair. The Commissioner nodded. "We'll take her home." she added. Batman turned to look at her with one of the lenses on his cowl growing a bit larger, as if he's raising an eyebrow. She shrugs and flashes him a big smile.

Without another word, Batman grabs my waist again and shoots his grapple gun into the air. I tense as we fly through the maze of buildings.

"Where do you live?" he asks me gruffly. I explain how to get to my house and before long we're all standing in my bedroom.

"Thanks for saving me, and taking me home too." I tell them.

"Hey, it's what we do." Robin shrugs. Just then I hear my dad coming up the stairs. Great timing!

"My dad's coming!" I say. "Hurry, get out the window." I'm worried now. Batman and Batgirl hesitate, but obey. My door swings open and Robin jumps behind my closet door.

"What's all that racket?" he yells, his speech still slurring. I wonder how our entrance could have woken him up, but guess he must have been still drinking.

"Nothing, Dad. I didn't mean to make any noise." I say, backing up against my wall. I glance at my closet door and can tell that Robin's still there watching this all play out. Great. I didn't want them to see this.

"I'll teach you not to make noise." I clench my teeth, preparing myself for impact. He punches my stomach and I feel the wind knocked out of me and I fall on the ground as always. He hit in exactly the same spot as before, so it was even more tender than usual. He lifts me up by the neck. For a drunk, he's pretty strong. I'm struggling for breath now as I try to pull up on his arms.

"Put her down." Robin says, coming out from the closet. My dad drops me and I take in a big gulp of air. He turns toward the kid.

"What are you doing in my house?" he growls.

"Just a little criminal justice." Robin replies with a smirk. My dad charges him and Robin jumps up, flipping over him. My dad stops and turns, but the kid kicks him with enough force to knock him into the closet. Robin slams the door and uses a batarang as a lock.

"Come on. That won't hold him long!" He says, grabbing my hand. He's right. My dad's a pretty big guy. Not knowing what else to do, I follow him out of the house and to the front door. I hear my dad bellowing threats in the background and pick up my speed. I don't know what he'll do to me after that. I know better than to try to defend myself against my dad, much less fight him back.

Finally, we stop and I'm practically wheezing as we move into a dark alleyway. I look over at the costumed kid and smile slightly.

"Thanks again." Just then Batgirl and Batman drop from the roof and appear before us. They're both eyeing me curiously.  
"Does your dad always do that to you? Why didn't you fight back?" Robin asks me once he regains his breath.

"Yes, and I know not to fight back. It only makes him angrier." I say, I feel tears rising up, but turn away and hold them back.

"Those bruises aren't from the Joker." Batman says. I turn back.

"You're right." I answer him. Batgirl somewhat chuckles.

"Didn't think that was the Joker's style anyway." I give her a half-smile. Then look back at them worriedly.

"What do I do now? If I go back my dad will kill me." I say glancing back at the half-lit street.

"We'll take you to Commissioner Gordon. He'll let you stay at his place until something can be done. Don't worry your dad's not going to get to you again." Batgirl answers. I nod slowly. Batman appears to be raising an eyebroow again, but I'm really not sure why.


	2. A Part of the Family

_**Author's Note: It's never any fun when someone only puts the first chapter of a story up, so before I go to bed I'm putting up the next.**_

_**Disclaimer: I only own Sapphire and her dad**_

**Chapter 2- A Part of the Family**

That night I slept in Barbara's room at the Gordon house. She was apparently in college and at her dorm. I felt awkward, especially when Batman was explaining the situation. I didn't want anyone to know about what I face at home. Now Gotham's protectors and the police commissioner know. They say I'm going to be put up for adoption, but instead of being put in an orphanage, I get to stay here. The Commissioner seems nice enough, but I still don't trust him. I guess that's a result of my upbringing.

He gave me full access to their in-home gymnastics area that Barbara had set up while she'd lived there. That was nice. I spent most of my time in there.

At the end of the week, a man comes to adopt me. I get the shock of my life when I realize who it is. Bruce Wayne. I'm so confused. Why would a guy like Bruce Wayne want to adopt me? Not that I don't think he'll be a good parent, I just wonder why he would bother.

He brought along one of his adoptive sons. The kid was about fourteen years old. Only two years younger than myself.

"What's your name?" he asks me when he first comes in the door. Bruce and the Commissioner were in the other room discussing my adoption papers. I was in some of Barbara's clothes which fit pretty well.

"Sapphire Evans. What's yours?" I answer.

"Tim Drake." he pauses.

"So what do you do for fun here?" he says cocking his head slightly.

"I hang out in the gym. I'm a gymnast." I tell him.

"Cool."

It isn't long after that Bruce and Tim show me to the limo out front. Their butler, Alfred, opens the door for us and I get in. I'm shocked by the luxury. Who rides in a limo on a daily basis? Apparently, Bruce Wayne.

When we get to the Wayne Manor, Alfred opens the door for us. I step out and my jaw drops. Never in my life would I expect to live in such a huge place. Tim came up beside me.

"Wait 'til you see the inside." he says. I follow both he and Bruce into a room they prepared for me which is also pretty large.

"This will be your room, Sapphire." Bruce tells me. I smile gratefully. "Now, I thought we could go shopping. You'll need some new clothes." I couldn't help but agree with him. I had a pair of jeans and shirt from Barbara, as well as my clothes from the night I was kidnapped by Joker. That was all.

He takes me shopping at all these expensive places. At first, I'm very reluctant to get anything. I mean, I'm not enjoying the price tags on these things. I don't even make enough in a year to buy some of these dresses. Finally, Bruce convinces me to try some on and he buys the ones that I like. I start to enjoy myself. Maybe this whole new home thing isn't so bad.

It really didn't take me long to figure out their secret, either. I'm a night owl by nature. That night, I can't sleep so I head to the kitchen to grab a snack. I see that Alfred is up and wide awake. Curious, I follow him into the living room, careful to stay silent and in the shadows. He pulls down on the middle of the grandfather clock and it slides to the side, revealing a door. I'm totally freaked. Not wanting to get caught, I sneak back to my room.

Early the next morning, I head back into the living room. My curiosity gets the best of me and I pull down on the middle of the grandfather clock. It slides to the side. I realize I have no idea if Bruce is at home or not. I wonder what he'll do if he catches me in here. A picture of him beating me enters my mind and I back up slowly, no longer wanting to know what's down there.

I hit something hard and turn slowly. Bruce is right behind me.

"Sapphire?" My eyes widen and I back up against the wall and close my eyes. I wait for him to hit me but the blow never comes. I open my eyes slowly and Bruce is still there, looking worriedly at me. Tim is beside him now and the kid just looks thoroughly confused. My heart is pounding and I'm practically hyperventilating. Bruce takes a step toward me and I press myself up against the wall as hard as I can, closing my eyes once more.

"Sapphire, I'm not going to hurt you." he says quietly and puts a hand on my shoulder. I look up at him, searching his eyes for sincerity. I look over at Tim who's keeping his distance for the moment. He nods when Bruce says that and I relax some. Bruce leads me over to a chair nearby. He and Tim sit in two others facing me.

I attempt to calm my breathing and racing heart. I draw my legs up to my chest and rest my chin on my knees. When I finally regain control, I look up at them.

"I'm sorry." I start. "I just saw Alfred go in there and wondered what was in there. I didn't see anything, I swear. I changed my mind after it opened. I was worried that..." I trail off. I don't want to offend the man who took me in.

"That I would hurt you the way your dad used to." Bruce fills in. I see a look of realization pass over Tim's face as I nod. Bruce picks up my hand and holds it in his. "Sapphire, I will never hurt you like that. You're my daughter now. The way your dad treated you was unacceptable." I nod slowly as a tear trickles down my cheek.

"Thank you, Bruce." I answer.

"Let me show you what's down there." This time Tim nearly falls out of his chair in shock.

"You're going to what?" He says, eyes wide.

"We can't hide it from her forever."

The two lead me down the stairs and in a few moments we were in a large cave. I looked around. It wasn't until I saw the Batmobile that it made sense to me. I spun around to face the two.

"You're Batman and Robin." I say looking at the two of them. Bruce walks over to his large computer and starts typing. Tim shrugs with a smile.

"The very same."

"So it was you who saved me last week?" Tim smiles again and I laugh.

"This is crazy. Then what about Batgirl, where's she?" I ask.

"At college." I furrow my brow, confused.

"You slept in her room most of the week." Bruce says in his Batman voice.

"Barbara Gordon?" Tim just smiles.

After Tim shows me around the Batcave, the two of us head up to the gym. I want to clear my head, and this is the best way for me to do so. I get on the beam and start doing flips. I'm surprised when I see Tim doing flips on the bars. Then I remember he's actually Robin and continue what I'm doing. There was so much to take in. My adoptive dad is Batman? My adoptive brother is Robin?

I kept working until dinner, when Alfred calls us in. I get washed up and come down only to be met by Dick Grayson, my other adoptive brother.

"So this is my new little sister? She kinda looks like Barbara." he laughs.

"That's why the Joker targetted her, stupid." Tim says, smacking his brother upside the head. Dick turns and is about to attack his younger brother when Bruce walks in glaring at the two boys. They both stop immediately.

* * *

Nothing really happens for the next couple of weeks, Tim and I go to the same high school now. It's a private school and the only reason people like us is because we're Bruce Wayne's kids. Despite the face that he's a freshman and I'm a junior, we hang out alot. We enjoy each other's company and act very much like siblings ought. Dick comes over after school sometimes to help Tim and I with homework. Tim has more trouble with the work than I do, plus it doesn't mix well with his late nights. I just ask for help when I need it and find ways to annoy Dick, which usually made Tim laugh.

Bruce is a good dad and I enjoy living with the family. I'm the only girl in the house, so I get a little more slack than Tim gets and Dick get, even though the latter is in college. This eats Tim up, which usually makes me laugh.

One night, Tim and I go to a football game with our school. We have alot of fun, but decide to leave early. It was getting cold pretty fast and Tim had forgotten his jacket.

We head out to my car that Bruce had gotten me. I already knew how to drive, which spared me Bruce's driving lessons (Dick said I was very lucky, because Bruce often forgot he wasn't in the Batmobile). I try to dig my keys out of my purse listening to Tim ramble on about why my parents would name me Sapphire.

"I mean you don't even have blue eyes! Why on earth would they-" He stops midsentence and I turn to look at him.

"Tim?"

"Those guys don't look very friendly." Tim says. I look up to see four guys headed toward the two of us. I take a step back, my mind running through a million things. "I can't fight them easily, Sapphire. I can't let them realize who I am." The only thing that makes sense to me pops into my mind.

"Run!" I say, the two of us start sprinting to our right. Maybe the guys aren't really after us and they'll just think we're hurrying to our car. I risk a quick glance over my shoulder and whip my head back to the front. "They're gaining on us, Tim!" I yell. Tim picks up the pace, as do I. We head down an alleyway and quickly realize we're trapped. We turn to face the threat.

The four guys stop running and head toward us with an amused glint in their eyes. I look worriedly at Tim, who's trying to assess the situation. I look forward again and the guys are even closer.  
"What do you want?" I ask forcefully. More forceful than I felt.

"What do you think we want, Wayne?" One of the guys laughs. I gulp. Even though Tim and I still keep our last names, we are easily identified as the Wayne children. Tim warned me that this might happen. Alot of people think it will be easy to snag a billionare's children for some easy money. I clench my teeth. Noticing a fire escape to our right, I nudge Tim with my right elbow. I look pointedly at it, trying not to show the guys trying to trap us.

It was pretty high, but both of us being gymnasts, we can jump higher than most. Tim goes first, running and jumping he grabs the bottom and pulls himself up. I follow and do the same. Unfortunately, one of the guys grabs my ankle. I scream and Tim tries to grab my hand, but the guy pulls me down. Luckily, I hit the guy instead of the concrete.

"Leave my sister alone!" Tim yells and jumps off the escape. His legs hit the chest of the guy who was now holding my wrist. The guy falls and loosens his grip on me. I grab Tim's hand and we run, the guys closely following us. One of them lunges for me and grabs my ankle. My hands and face hit the pavement. Seeing that the boy was more of a threat, three of them had gone after him, one of them after me. Tim was holding up well, fighting the three guys and trying to refrain from any acrobatics that would tip them off on his being Robin. I wasn't doing as great. I roll over and kick at the guy as he pins my shoulders down. I smell the alcohol on his breath and start to panic. Tim's yelling threats and I try to scream, but the guy on top of my backhands me. I use that opportunity to punch him in the face. He grabs my arm again, now angrier than before and pins it down.

"Let the kids go." A voice says calmly behind my attacker. It sounds familiar somehow. "Now!" Suddenly the guy pinning me down flies off of me and into the wall. The two fighting Tim are quickly taken care of as well.

"Are you okay?" Tim asks.

"Yeah." I answer trying to calm my racing heart. We turn to the guy that saved us. It was none other than Nightwing.

"You guys okay?" he asked, looking us over.

"We'll be fine, Dick." I answer, knowing all the guys are out cold. Nightwing looks startled for a moment that I'd figured out who he was then he shrugs.

"You two need a ride home?"

"No, I have a car. Problem is, I got turned around. Think you can help us get back."

After finding our way back to the car, we said goodbye to Nightwing.

We get in the car and Tim looks at me.

"Bruce is gonna freak when we get home."

* * *

Tim was right. When we got home I looked at Tim. His arms were scraped and his shirt was torn. The skin around his right eye was turning black where he'd gotten a good hit from one of the muggers and there were a few other bruises and scrapes.

The right side of my face was covered in scrapes from hitting the cement and there was a bruise forming on my left from being backhanded by the jerk pinning me down. I also had bruises on my shoulders which were forming pretty quickly. I'd been wearing an off the shoulders long sleeved shirt that showed where the guy had pinned me down and on the backs of my shoulders where the skin had been exposed, there was some blood from being scraped onto the pavement as well. My ankle had a few bruises from the guy pulling me down and the knees of my jeans were bloody and ripped from falling on the concrete.

Alfred answers the door when we got home. He looks aghast. Before we can say anything he motions for Tim and I to follow him. We both grimace and look at each other. We follow him into the study.

"Master Bruce, Timothy and Sapphire have arrived." He says, announcing our prescence and leaves quickly. We walk in slowly. He's reading a newspaper.

"Good. How was the football game?" he asks, still not having looked over the paper.

"It was....erm...eventful." Tim answers. Bruce lowers his newspaper and I see his jaw set and eyebrows raise as he takes in our appearances.

"What happened?" he asks in his 'Batman voice'. He looks us over worriedly as Tim speaks up.

"Well, some guys tried to attack us while we were leaving the football game, because we're Waynes. So Sapphire and I ran, but we kinda got trapped in an alleyway. Sapphire noticed a fire escape and I climbed up it first, she followed." I cut in at this point to finish it off.

"One of the guys grabbed my ankle and pulled me down. This made Tim jump off and hit one of the guys to free me. We tried to run, but they were faster. We don't exactly have long legs." At this, Tim gives me an annoyed look for calling him short. I shrug, even though I'm taller than him- I'm still pretty short. "Tim fought three of the guys trying not to use too many Batmoves. I'm not so good at fighting though, one of the guys got me and I tried to kick at him, but he pinned me down. Then Dick came and rescued us." I finished.

Bruce sits back in his chair, still looking very angry- thankfully not at us.

Right then, Dick comes in the door.

"How did you know it was me, Sapph?" he asks. I smile at the use of the nickname my brothers made up.

"You think I'd recognize my own brother's voice." I answer. "Besides, there's Batman and Robin." I say, pointing at both. "Who else could you be, but Nightwing."

"I see your point." he smiles.

"Tim, Sapphire, get cleaned up and go to bed." Bruce tells us.

No arguments here. I'm drained!


	3. Sibling Wars

_**Author's Note: This one was really fun to write. You get to see alot of Sapphire's gymnastics and also portrays her relationship with Dick mainly. I smiled alot while writing this and I hope it makes you laugh. Please let me know what you think!  
Was that fast enough for you, Miles333? Lol! I was in the middle of editing this when I got your reviews!**_

_**Disclaimer: I only own Sapphire.**_

**Chapter 3- Sibling Wars**

The next day, I wake up feeling sore all over. I grimace as I look in the mirror, thankful it's Saturday. At least I'll have some time to recover a bit before I head back to school. I throw on a pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt before heading downstairs for breakfast. I know I won't be going anywhere today, so I don't bother trying to hide my wounds with my clothes.

I get to the table and sit next to Tim, who's looking pretty perky. I guess that as Robin, he's probably gotten much worse and this doesn't faze him as much. It didn't really faze me much more actually. I was used to getting a beating, but it had been a while- and I wasn't used to fighting back.

Bruce and Dick were sitting across from me and looking me over. I roll my eyes.

"It's not like I haven't taken a beating before. I'm not going to break." I say. Dick laughs and Bruce smiles faintly. I smile. I enjoy being around my brothers and my dad. Though we all still call him Bruce, we all think of him as dad. I've never felt more at home with any other group of people and I'm proud to call them family.

"Sapphire." Bruce says. I look up from my food questioningly and nod, letting him know I'm listening. "We're going to teach you how to fight. You need to know how to defend yourself."

"Really?" I say, eagerly. Bruce nods.

"Yes."

"Does that mean I'll get to fight?" I don't need to clarify, because it's pretty obvious what I mean. It apparently takes Tim and Dick by surprise, though, and they both choke on their food. Bruce looks like he was expecting it.

"We'll see." he says, standing. Then walks out of the room. Tim and Dick both look at me like I'm crazy.

"What now?" I ask, exhasperated.

"You are not going to fight." Dick says authoritatively. I laugh.

"And why not?"

"You'll get hurt." Tim says. I roll my eyes.

"Like I haven't been hurt plenty of times. Besides, Barbara fights." I answer. Barbara and I had gotten to know each other and I liked her alot.

"She's not my little sister." He says, annoyed.

"No, but she is your girlfriend." I say in a sing-songy voice to taunt him.

"Why I oughta..." he threatens. I take that as my cue to run. Jumping up, I dash from the room with Dick close behind me.  
"Don't want to hurt your breakable little sister, Dick!" I yell. We reach the stair and I start sliding down the bannister. I can hear Tim laughing as he trails Dick and I to see what happens. I get to the bottom and Dick jumps from the second story and rolls to a stop in front of me. I spot Alfred cleaning a lamp on the coffee table. I jump into the air and do a flip over the couch before landing behind Alfred.

"Can't get me!" I say, taking cover behind Alfred. Tim slides down the bannister and is still laughing hysterically. I bite my lip trying to hold back a smile.

"Master Richard! Miss Sapphire!" Alfred exclaims. "Please refrain from tearing up the house." He looks over at Tim. "Master Timothy, do stop sliding down the railing." Tim points at me.

"She did it too!" Alfred leaves without saying another word.

We all laugh and start to head back up the stairs to our food.

A few hourse later, I'm in the gym with Bruce, Tim, and Dick. Bruce says they have to watch me on the different gymnastics equipment first to see where to start. It makes sense so I start out on the beam as a warm up. I don't bother with a routine, just start doing random tricks and such. After doing the same on the uneven bars and the floor I go over to them.

"So how did I do?" I ask.

"Good." Bruce said. I put a hand on my hip and raise an eyebrow at Dick with a smirk, he rolls his eyes in return.

The rest of the day was filled with Bruce and I fighting with what looked like large sticks with marshmallows on the ends. I didn't bother asking what they were called. He beat me miserably every time, but I could see myself improving, which was enough to make me happy.

Watching Bruce fight with my brothers makes me laugh. While they are alot better than me, neither are a match for him, though Dick is getting there. At the end, all three of us are sweating like crazy.

"So how do you feel about fighting now?" Dick asks, eyebrow raised.

"Same. If not more excited." I say, smirking. He smacks the back of my head.

"Ow! What was that for?" I say angrily.

"Your comment at breakfast."

I hear Tim laughing behind me and I turn to glare at him, silencing him quickly.

"Well at least she's got the Batglare down." he mutters and I smile. I turn back to Dick.  
"This means war."

"Bring it on."

The next day, Babs came over. I was excited to tell her about learning how to fight.

"So you're going to fight?" she said smiling. At twenty, Dick and Barbara are both four years older than me, but I love that she doesn't treat me like I'm younger.

"I hope so. Right now, it's just for self-defense against Wayne- haters." she laughs at this as Dick enters the room.

"That would explain the bruises and scrapes." she says eyeing me.  
"Yeah, she and Tim got attacked the other day, but Nightwing helped them out."

"Hey! I was doing fine!" Tim yells coming in behind him. Dick starts to walk past me, but I put out my foot and trip him, sending him barrelling into Barbara. The two fell onto the floor and I grab Tim, putting him in between me and Dick, who's getting up and I swear I can see smoke coming out of his ears.

Barbara starts laughing as Dick approaches his two younger siblings. Both of us step back slowly.

"I told you it was war." I smirk and grab Tim's hand. We go flying down the hallway with Dick close behind us. For the second time in two days, I'm running for my life from my older brother.

"Wait! I have nothing to do with this!" Tim yells, still running.

"Guilty by association!" I yell back as we continue down the hall. We end up in the living room again after sliding down the railing. This time, Alfred isn't here to save us. Dick jumps down and rolls just like last time. Tim and I back up and split up. I go to the right, while Tim goes to the left. Of course, Dick goes after me and lunges at me. I smile as I do a back handspring and he falls on the floor.

I hear Barbara laughing from the top of the stairs as she surveys the scene. This distracts Dick and I try to make a run for it. Unluckily for me, Dick sees it and does a flip over the couch to catch me. He grabs my arms and puts them behind my back and I struggle against him.

"Now what do we do with the enemy, Babs?" he laughs.

"Throw her in the pool!" she yells. I struggle harder, not wanting to get soaked. Tim throws a bouncy ball at the back of Dick's head.

"Interference!" Barbara yells and jumps down. She tackles Tim and holds him down. "Go, Dick! Dunk her!" She yells.

"No!" I yell, trying to fight my big brother. He throws me over his shoulder and starts running toward the door to the backyard. I pinch his arm and he lets go for a moment, giving me the chance to do a somersault down his back. We're right next to the pool and he turns around, trying not to smile.

"Sapphire, you're going to get it!" he says.

"Not if you get it first!" I answer. I run toward the pool, not sure of what to do next. He grabs my arm and I hiss in pain through my teeth. He's holding on to my bruise. Seeing my pain, he lets go quickly.

"Oh my gosh, Sapph! I'm so sorry!" he says wide-eyed.

"I'm not breakable, Dick!" I smirk and run over next to the diving board. "It did hurt, but I'm not going to die." I laugh.

"No, but you are about to get really wet!" he laughs. I back up onto the edge of the diving board. He's on it now too, and is slowly moving closer. I wait until he's right in front of me and just as he moves out his arms to push me, I fly into the air and flip over him, landing behind him. His hands push into empty air, causing him to lose his balance somewhat. I push him from behind and he falls into the water. I laugh, but as he falls he grabs my wrist and pulls me in after him.

We both crawl out of the water, side by side.

"Truce?" He asks me with a smile.

"Truce."

We both walk in, soaking wet, to where Bruce is reprimanding Barbara and Tim for fighting in the house. Apparently, they'd knocked over a lamp in they're 'wrestling match'. Dick and I try to back slowly back out the door, but he catches us before we could do anything.

"What on earth happened to you two?" He asks, eyeing the two of us.

"Dick tried to shove me in the pool." I answer with a small smile. Tim and Barbara start snickering, but silence when Bruce gives them the Batglare. It's just as menacing without the cowl.

"We called a truce." Dick offers. Bruce just continues staring at us.

"Alfred!" Bruce calls. The elderly man comes in and immediately heads back out to get some towels. He's back a moment later, reprimanding us for getting our clothes all wet. My teeth start chattering. The water had been really cold, it _was _getting close to winter.

Bruce told us to get to our rooms and change. Dick still had some stuff at the manor and changed as well.

When we got back downstairs. Babs and Tim are sitting the couch. I start pulling my wet hair into a bun as I talk to them.

"Alright, who gave us away?" I ask. Barbara looks pointedly at Tim. He raises his hands in mock surrender.

"I didn't _mean_ to knock over the lamp!" he says in his defense.

"Great job!" I reply sarcastically, but with a smile. Dick and I sit down on the couch next to their's.

"So the sibling wars are over?" Tim asks, eyeing us.

"Yeah, we called a truce." I smile.

"Well we'd better get to training." Barbara says, standing. "I didn't come over here _just_ to ruin Bruce's lamp."


	4. The Dark Falcon

_**Author's Note: So I've been writing these chapters like crazy and I'm not even waiting for reviews... yet. Though they do make me smile! :D I just want to put this up. I'm working on Chapter 6 right now, so I've got the 5 already written. **_

_**Anyway, for all of you reading my other stories (**__**A Story of Faith**__** and **__**Eyes of Purple**__**)- Don't worry, I will update those soon. This story has been most prominent on my mind at the time though. **_

_**Disclaimer: I ownly own Sapphire and Dark Falcon and the thugs.**_

**Chapter 4- The Dark Falcon**

Two weeks later, I sit in the Batcave, monitoring the activies of Gotham and Bludhaven while everyone else is out on patrol. Sighing, I do a few flips behind the chair and practice some of the moves Bruce has shown me. I think about school tomorrow, hoping my makeup will be able to cover the bruise on my face from when Tim kicked me during training. I laugh as I remember how he freaked out when I fell back. For some reason, everyone seems to think I'm made of glass.

"How is it looking?" Tim's voice comes over my communicator, located securely in my ear. Speak of the devil.

"Boring." I answer. doing a front flip. I'd noticed my front flips were getting sloppy in my favor for backflips when I had flipped over Dick on the diving board. I want to fix that, so I'm practicing them more often. "How's it out there?"

"We stopped a couple of muggers, but nothing big. It's been pretty quiet tonight." I sigh as I sit back in the chair. "You wanna be out here, don't you?" he says sympathetically. Out of both of my brothers, Tim is the one I'm closest to. Probably because he's more like me and we're closest in age. We also spend more time together and both have dad's that were criminals in one way or another. Dick's the one I fight with the most- but in a playful way. Usually, it's something brought on by his protective big brother though they're both protective of me, I guess that's something that comes with being the only female Wayne. Anyways, I love both of my brothers dearly.

"Yeah." I answer truthfully. "Hopefully, I'll get good enough soon to start joining you."

"I'll try to put in a good word to the Bat." I laugh.

"He's my dad too, Robin. Have fun!"

"You too."

I go back to practicing. Bruce keeps a dummy to practice on near the computer, so I work on kicking and punching it. I start pondering names for myself if Bruce ever lets me fight. He still hasn't told me whether or not he will. Though I'm getting alot better. Dick even admitted it yesterday.

Anyway, I have no idea what I'll call myself if I do. My brothers are both named after birds while my Bruce and Barbara are named after bats. They are all a team, but I want to mix the two in mine. All I know so far is that I want a domino mask rather than a cowl.

The next morning I wake up and pick out a long sleeve shirt, glad that it's winter. I have a few bruises from Bruce swinging me over his head during training. I'm sure my teachers would have alot to say to him if they knew he was fighting me. Smiling, I pull it on and grab a long black skirt and some boots. I go into my bathroom and put on some foundation in an attempt to cover up the bruise on my face. Oh the wonders of makeup!

I head downstairs to where Bruce and Tim are eating breakfast. Dick is back at college in Bludhaven.

"Sapphire, you're coming on patrol with us on Friday." Bruce says without even looking up from his food. My mouth drops open in shock.

"Really?"

"Yes. I'll discuss costume ideas and a name when you two get home." I whoop loudly and Tim laughs. Bruce lets a small smile crawl across his face. "But that means we'll have to work even harder this week." I nod, still beaming.

"Does Dick know yet?" I ask, hardly able to contain myself.

"We figured you'd want to tell him."

The rest of the day I'm very excited and it passes like a blur. When Alfred picks us up, I jump in first and Tim just shakes his head with a smile. Alfred laughs.

"I trust Miss Sapphire is still excited about getting to fight, Master Timothy?" he directs at Tim.

"Very." He responds with a laugh. I just look out the window excitedly.

That night, when Batman and Nightwing go on patrol, Tim and I are left behind. Tim's grounded tonight for failing his math test and Bruce only wants me working on weekends at first. We call Dick to meet up with us before they leave.

"What did you want?" he asks, fully costumed.

"I get to fight!" I squeal, hardly able to contain myself. So today I've been acting alot younger than I am, but I'm to excited to let it bother me.

"You what?!" he practically yells. I roll my eyes.

"I get to fight. Friday night, I get to go out on patrol with Bruce and Tim." I answer him, smile still plastered across my face.

"You've got to be joking." he says, now talking to Batman. "She'll get herself hurt."

"She's getting better. We won't let anything happen to her. She'll be fine."

"Really, Dick, I'll be careful." I say, now seeing an argument ready to flare up between my dad and brother. Tim had explained to me why Dick had originally dropped his role of being Robin and switched to Nightwing. We both grow jumpy now whenever they started fighting.

"If anything happens to her..." he says, taking an angry step toward Batman.

"Seriously, Dick," I say, getting angry now and stepping between them. "I can take care of myself. I'm only four years younger than you. I won't break. I've already been kidnapped by Joker and abused most of my life. I think I can handle this. I'm sixteen, not eight." Dick is silent but finally relaxes and ruffles my long red hair.

"I know." he relents. I swat his hand away from my hair and attempt to fix it back.

"And just because I'm shorter than you doesn't mean you can screw up my hair." I say crossing my arms. He laughs.

"Let's get going."

That Friday, I am stoked when it's time to head out. I had chosen the name Dark Falcon and Bruce had said it was a good name. The first word was to link me with Batman, who was often called 'The Dark Knight' while I'd wanted to choose a bird name like my brothers. I decide to surprise my brothers, so though they ask throughout the week I don't give in.

My body suit was similar to Barbara's, black and pretty much the same size since she's only two inches taller than me, only instead of a yellow bat on the chest, I choose a red falcon on the left side. I like it because by red and it's placement it ties me to Robin, but the falcon itself resembles Nightwing's insignia. On my right arm I also have a red bat insignia that wraps around my bicep. I have a domino mask that resembles my younger brother's mask, because I really hate Dick's mask- not that I'd tell him that.

I have a long black cape and a black utility belt. My hair is pulled back in a french braid and twisted into a low tight bun. My boots and gloves are black as well. Tim's the first one into the cave where I'm sitting in the chair in front of the computers, watching the screen for any signs of trouble before we head out. When he sees me, he jumps in surprise and I laugh.

"Did I scare you?" I ask, smirking.

"Just didn't recognize you with the mask, Sapph." he says, trying to play it off. "I like your costume. What's your name gonna be?"

"Dark Falcon." I answer promptly. I hear Dick snort as he comes in outfitted as Nightwing.

"Dark Falcon?" he snickers and I glare at him, the white lenses of my mask becoming slits. It silences him pretty quickly.

"What did I say about her being good at the Batglare!" Tim says triumphantly as he heads over to get his costume and chang behind a little stall thing that Bruce had put up back when Barbara joined the Batclan. "Only now we'll have to call it the Falconglare. First the Batglare, then the Nightglare. Now the Falconglare. Only yours is a mouthful, Sapph." he rambles and I roll my eyes. He comes back out of the dressing room, brows furrowed above his mask. "How come there's not Robglare?"

"Because a glare from Robin wouldn't scare anyone." I reply. He sticks his tongue out at me as Barbara walks in.

"Don't worry, I don't have my own glare either. Love the outfit, Sapph. I see how you incorporated your dad and brothers in it." I smile, trust Barbara to know what I'm thinking. "What's your name gonna be?"

"Dark Falcon." I say pointedly looking over at Dick and raising an eyebrow as if challenging him to retort.

"In the name too. Nice." she compliments me. I smile and my heart flip flops from excitement as Batman strides in.

"Let's go."

Tonight is another slow night, but I'm glad. I really didn't want to face any supervillians on my first night of crime fighting. I stick with Robin most of the time. Nightwing stays somewhat nearby, not watching Bludhaven as closely for tonight because he's worried about his little sister.

My first test comes when Robin and I hear a scream from a nearby alleyway. Using our grapples we swing over to see two guys trying to mug a woman in an alleyway. Robin pulls out a batarang and tosses it, knocking the gun out of the guys hand. He turns to face us just in time for my boots to make contact with his face. I press the release and face the other guy, who comes barrelling at me angrily.

Robin swings down and hits the guy in the back, causing him to land face first in the dust. I smile at him as I watch Robin start to cuff the guy. The guy I'd previously knocked down, though, stands and starts making his way toward Robin who has his back to him. I see this and do a flip in the air over Robin and the man he's cuffing, and land in front of this guy.

"Who are you supposed to be?" he asks, angrily throwing a punch in my direction. I dodge it and smile.

"Your welcoming committee to prison." I give him a round- house kick to the head, knocking him onto his side and his head hits the side of the building, rendering him unconscious. I pull out some Batcuffs and cuff the guys hands behind his back. Robin walks over to me with a smile on his face. I notice the woman's purse on the ground and pick it up, handing it to her.

"Here you go, Ma'am" I say.

"Who are you?" she questions me, curiously.

"Dark Falcon." I answer as I shoot my grapple gun and Robin does the same and we swing off. When we get to the top of the building I hit my communicator.

"Nightwing! Batman! Batgirl!" I yell into the communicator.

"What? You almost busted my eardrum!" Nightwing answers, annoyed. I ignore his rudeness. I know Batman's listening so I continue.

"I just took down my first thug with Robin!" I say. Nightwing and Tim start laughing at the same time.

"That's really cool, Dark Falcon." Batgirl answers.

"Well, she's got our sense of humor, Nightwing." Robin says.

"Why what'd she say?"

"The guy asked her who she was and she told him she was his 'welcoming committee to prison'." I hear both Nightwing and Batgirl laughing.  
"She definitely got that from the two of you." Batgirl answers and I laugh this time. Then Batman's voice comes over the communicator.

"This line's supposed to be silent unless you need backup." Batman's voice came in. All chit chat ended then.


	5. Explosive Jokes

_**Author's Note: I would really appreciate some more reviews, so please feed a starving author with them. :D They make me smile. So- Props to Miles333 who has reviewed every chapter (You rock!) and HisWarrior who reviewed my last chapter (You also rock!). **_

_**Disclaimer: How much money did I get from the shows, action figures, and movies about Batman? None. Therefore, I own none of this- except Sapphire/Dark Falcon.**_

**Chapter 5- Explosive Jokes**

In the weeks following, I learn more and improve quickly. It isn't long before I can patrol on my own, though I have to swear to Dick that I'll call for backup if there's more than I can handle. I agree. What else would I do? Run?

When the first supervillian shows up, it turns out to be Joker. I know that Batman would have kept me from going in on this fight if it weren't for the fact that I was the one who found him. Plus Batman was at the Watchtower with the Justice League having a meeting with the other six founding members.

Anyway, I was patrolling the east side of Gotham when I saw some suspicious movement in the bank. I tap my communicator.

"I see suspicious movement in the East Gotham bank. I'm going to go check it out."

"I'll be there in a few minutes in case you need backup." Robin informs me.

"Thanks."

I shoot my grapple gun and make my way into the building through the roof. I sneak through toward the vault when I hear sickeningly familiar laugh. Peeking around a corner, I see Joker and Harley Quinn with a few other men as they make their way toward the vault. Moving back, I hit my communicator again.

"Gonna need backup," I say quietly. "It's the Joker."

"Don't. Do. ANYTHING!" I hear Nightwing yell, making me grimace. I can hear the worry in his voice, though.

"I'll be right there." Robin says.

"We'll be there in a minute, too." Batgirl says.

"Okay, I'll wait." I say. I peek around the corner again only to be face to face with Harley.

"Peek-a-boo!" She says as she throws a punch to my jaw. I fall back and hit my communicator again.

"They know I'm here!" I say. I jump toward Harley and kick her in the stomach.

"What?!" I hear Nightwing yell.

"Stop yelling, you're busting my eardrum!" I say as two other guys head toward me. Harley's picking herself up the ground looking pretty angry.

I see Joker in the background, watching with interest as I dodge a few punches.

"Why, if it isn't a new bat!" I hear him say with a smile.

"It's Dark Falcon to you, creep!" I say as I knock out one of his lackeys.

"Treat Mr. J with some respect, Birdie." Harley says and pulls out a gun with a glove on the end that springs out and hits you. As she pulls the trigger, I do a double back handspring and she hits the guy that was attacking from the other side. They approach again and I get a kick to the stomach that sends me into the wall.

"I'm here!" I hear Robin say over the communicator. Seconds later, he crashes through the opposite window.  
"Great timing!" I yell. He smiles. I dodge a punch and block a kick. I turn and grab a desk chair beside me and fling it at Harley and the guy next to her, sending them sprawling onto the floor. Robin is on the other side, fighting a few other lackeys.

I head toward Joker who is still laughing as he looks at me.

"Looks like the bat has a thing for redheads." I feel my blood boil as I advance on him. He rolls a bunch of marbles toward me and Robin. Knowing they're explosive I do a few back handsprings and yell.

"Robin! Watch out!" Unfortunately, one of the explosions knocks me off my feet and does the same to Robin. I tap my communicator, keeping the line open so everyone on the team can hear what's going on.

Another explosive goes off and the blast is closer to Robin, throwing him against the wall and knocking him unconscious. The men fighting him have cleared to stay away from the explosives.

"Robin!" I yell franticly. I hear Nightwing yelling into my ear.  
"What's going on?"

"Explosives! Robin's down. Unconscious." I run toward my little brother, but another blast knocks me off my feet again. I hear Nightwing curse over the communicator. Normally, I'd get on to him, but right now I'm having trouble reigning in my own tongue.

"One bird down. One to go!" Harley says, now awake and standing next to Joker. I get up and run toward Robin, crouching over him to protect him just as another explosion goes off. I feel my head hit the wall some blood gets in my eyes, but I turn my head just in time to see Nightwing and Batgirl make their appearance. Then everything grows dark.

I wake up in the Batcave. I open my eyes and see Alfred bandaging my head.

"Miss Sapphire, you're awake." he observes. I smile faintly.

"Where's Tim?" I ask worried about my little brother.  
"Master Timothy woke up moments ago. He went to assure Master Bruce and Master Richard that he was okay. You ought to do the same." He helps me sit up and I touch the bandage on my head tenderly.

"Alfred?"

"Yes, Miss Sapphire?"

"Do you ever get tired of calling us 'Miss' and 'Master'?" I ask. He smiles in a way that tells me I'm not going to get an answer, so I smile back and head up the stairs. I hold tight to the railing because I'm still feeling kinda dizzy. I walk into the living room and Tim rushes over to me, still wearing his Robin costume, minus the mask, and gives me a hug.

"Are you okay?" he asks.

"I could ask you the same question. You scared the crap out of me."

"And me." I hear Dick say. "Both of you scared me pretty bad." I go over to my older brother and see his and Bruce's worried expression at my somewhat wobbly movement. I roll my eyes.

"Like I'm supposed to be completely steady moments after waking up." I see a smirk on Bruce's face and give him a hug, then turn and give Dick one too. "You two worry to much. You all do."

"Can we help it?" Dick says. I laugh and look around the room.

"Where's Babs?"

"She had to get back home. She's spending the weekend with her father." Bruce said and I nod.

"Speaking of which, she wanted me to call as soon as you two woke up." Dick says and grabs the phone. He gives Tim and I a hug before heading to his room. Bruce gives Tim and I each a pair of pajamas and we head into nearby bathrooms to get changed.

"I don't know about you, but I'm exhausted. What time is it?" I ask when I come back out.

"Four a.m." Tim answers.

"Thank God it's Friday!"

"It's Saturday now."

"Shut up, Tim." He laughs and I roll my eyes againk, but still smile.

"You two will be sleeping in here." Bruce says after a few moments.

"Why?" Tim asks.

"You two hit your heads and you could have a concussion. You neeed to be watched while you sleep." he answers. "I'll be sitting right here."

Tim and I settle onto two different couches and Alfred brings up pillows and blankets before turning out the light. Bruce leaves a lamp on beside his recliner as he reads.

I wake up around noon the next day and see that Bruce somehow fell asleep. I remember that he hasn't had any sleep for three nights and feel bad that he had to watch Tim and I all night. I also realize he'll probably be pretty angry at himself when he wakes up and realizes he put us in danger by falling asleep, but there's nothing I can do about that one. I check on Tim and hear him breathing steadily before grabbing my blanket and wrapping it around Bruce. I chuckle a little bit as he snores softly.

My stomach grumbles and I leave the room to find Alfred. My head is pounding as well and I'm really wanting some Advil.

I find Dick first, he's stuffing his face in the dining room. He doesn't hear me enter, so I sneak up behind him and smack him on the back of the head. I laugh as he jumps and then rubs the back of his head when he realizes it was me.

"What was that for?"

"Being a pig." I laugh as I steal a chip from his plate. He rolls his eyes. "Where's Alfred?"

"Went out for groceries. Why?"

"I need some Advil. You and I both know the kitchen is off-limits."

"I think this is an exception." he says, grinning mischeviously.

We head into the kitchen and I take some Advil. Turning, I look at my big brother. He's opening and closing all the cabinets in search of something.  
"What are you doing?"

"Looking for the cookie stash." I roll my eyes and open a jar on the counter.

"Ever heard of the cookie jar?" We both grab a few cookies and rush out.

"Where's Bruce?" Dick asks after a few minutes of munching on his cookies.  
"Fell asleep. I gave him my blanket when I woke up. Did you know he snores?" Dick snorts.

"Yeah! It's hilarious, though he never believes me." I smile as I finish another cookie. I have one left.

"Come on. Tim's gonna be hungry too." I say as I snatch Dick's last cookie. He's had like five. "We'd better go wake him up."


	6. A Long Night

_**Author's Note: I hope you are enjoying the story so far. I am enjoying writing it so far! My other JLU story is finished, my first fanfic to complete. So that was definitely exciting!**_

_**Disclaimer: I own alot people in this chapter, so I'll list them rather than who I don't. I own- Sapphire/Dark Falcon, Ashley, Sierra, James, Oliver, Sarah, Raina, Anthony, and Tony. Yup.**_

**Chapter 6- Long Night**

"So what happened to the Joker?" I ask Dick as I mount the beam. Tim's sitting next to it, stuffing the two cookies we (meaning I) saved him into his mouth. I'm not feeling wobbly anymore, though Dick doesn't believe me, so he's sitting nearby and watching me in case I hurt myself.

"First tell me what happened." Dick says. I explain to him the events leading up to his and Barbara's arrival and he nods.

"When we got in, we saw your head slam against the wall and you fall onto Tim. I ran over to you two to check your pulses while Babs when after Joker. When I realized you were both relatively okay, I headed over to Barbara, but Joker dropped some balls filled with his laughing gas. Barb and I grabbed our air masks and ran back over to you two to get you out before you were affected by it. By the time we got back in, they were gone." I listen as I do a few flips on the beam. I turn to look at Dick.

"Wait, how did they get out of Arkham and why didn't anyone tell us?" he shrugged.

"We were planning on asking the Commissioner about it tonight."

"We are so coming." Tim said as he stood from where he sat. I smile, knowing we have the same idea on this one. Dick rolls his eyes.

"Fine, but we're going on my bike."

Bruce still isn't up by the time it gets dark and I'm definitely thinking Alfred drugged his coffee. No one wants to wake him, so we just tell Alfred to let him know where we went. We get into our costumes and head to the Gotham PD on Nightwing's bike.

We park in an alleyway and use our grapples to enter the Commissioner's office. I lean with my back against the wall and one foot on it with my arms crossed. Barbara is sitting in a chair against the other wall and smiles at me before her dad notices we're there.

"You oughta get some higher tech security." Robin says beside me, making Gordon jump in his chair. Nightwing walks forward.

"Why wasn't anyone informed when the Joker escaped from prison?" he asks.

"Where's Batman?" the Commissioner asks, brow furrowing. "Aren't you supposed to be in Bludhaven?"

"The Batman's busy. I normally wouldn't have come, but Batgirl's busy too. I hardly think you would have said anything to Robin and Dark Falcon." Robin looks indignantly at Nightwing and I smirk. The Commissioner turns to look at me, I see him eyeing the bandage on my head.

"The new girl." he mumbles, then turns back to Nightwing.

"He's still in Arkham. What are you talking about?" This takes us all by surprise, including Babs, but she covers it up quickly.

"The bank last night." Robin says, stepping forward. "He and Harley were trying to rob the East Gotham Bank."

"That was the Joker?" Commissioner Gordon asks. "We weren't informed of the perpetrator. When we got there- there was no sign of anyone."

"Robin and Dark Falcon were hurt." Nightwing informs him and the Commissioner nods, now understanding my bandage.

"He must have someone in Arkham." I say, pushing myself off the wall and standing beside my brothers. "How else could he get out and back in without anyone noticing? Harley too." The Commissioner nods. He turns to pick something up.

"We'll look into the records and see-" he's cut off when he realizes we're gone. We went out the window and I smile as I hear him say, "They always do that!"

When we get back to the Batcave, Bruce is at the computer, I walk up to him first.

"Bruce, we found out why we weren't informed on Joker's escape."

"Because he's still there." He tells me.

"Why do we even bother?" Tim says, coming up behind me. I laugh.

"So what are we gonna do about it?" I ask, looking at my dad.

"We'll keep extra tabs on Arkham during patrol." he answers, standing. "When we get back, I'll check the security tapes." We all nod and head out for patrol.

Nightwing gets to watch Arkham. Well, it's not really like _gets_ to, it's more like _has _to. On my patrol, my mind's a bit distracted. How could Joker get out and in without anyone noticing? Even if he has someone in there like I said? Wouldn't someone notice that it's the Joker? And who in their right mind helps the Joker anyway? He's a lunatic! I'm pulled from my thoughts by an alarm. I find two guys in ski masks holding up a gas station.

I grapple over and hide right outside, taking stock of the situation. The two men are armed and have the cashier at gunpoint. There are two other innocents in there, frozen in fright. I see no other way to get in without using the doors. Luckily they're wide open.

"Is this a private party?" I ask, when I'm standing in the doorway.

"It's the Falcon girl, the one with the Bat." one of them says.

The men look at me and I'm holding a batarang. I throw it expertly and knock the gun out of the guy with the cashier. The other guy opens fire on me. I dodge the bullets with a series of flips. Once I get some cover, I throw another batarang that knocks the gun out of his hands.

"Great job!" I answer sarcastically. "Now for your consolation prize!" I jump out of hiding and take my opportunity, now that the men are unarmed. I engage in fighting with the two thugs. They try surrounding me, but it's not helping them much. I dodge their hits and manage to knock out the first guy. I turn to the one behind me and he takes advantage of the moment by giving me a swift kick to the stomach. This throws me back a few feet and I hit a row of candy that falls over onto the tile floor. The man stands over me and begins to lean down in an effort to grab me. I give him a swift kick to the face, knocking him to the side a few feet and I jump up. Angry, he pulls out a switchblade and advances toward me. I back up and he lunges, trying to drive the knife into my stomach. I swiftly move, though the knife does graze my side, but not badly. I take the opportunity to knock his head against the tile with my boot. I use the Batcuffs on both of my assailants and use my grapple gun to get away just as the police arrive.

When I get to a nearby roof, I check myself for damages- mainly my side. It's bleeding, but not badly. Now I'll have to get my suit fixed though. The rest of the night is slow. I stop a few muggers, but that's all. We all get home at around four in the morning and I'm wiped. I borrow some bandages from Alfred for my side, which earned me worried glances from my brothers and dad though I ignored it. After changing and fixing my knife wound, I plopped in bed and was asleep before my head hit the pillow.

The next morning I examined myself in the mirror. I had a bruise on my stomach that was a deep purple and the gash on my side. I pulled my bandage off of my head and saw that I had a scar, but nothing major. I put some makeup on it and it covers it well enough. You know, before I came here, I wasn't really into makeup. I'm still not, but I still have to use it all the time now. I grab a dress from my closet with an empire waist so no one will notice the swelling of my stomach. It's a chocolate brown with long sleeves and it ends just at my knees. I keep my hair down, it's naturally straight, so I don't have to do much with it. I grab a white jacket and some white ballet flats before running down the stairs.

My three hours of sleep don't bode well at school and I keep dozing off. Plus, movement is made difficult by my bruise and cut. I plop down to the left of Tim at lunch, exhausted.

"You okay, Sapph?" he asks me, putting a hand on my shoulder. I look over at him and smile.

"Yeah, I'll be fine. I'm just tired and sore." He nods sympathetically and smiles.

"You didn't have any coffee this morning, did you?"

"No." I answer miserably. "This tanks." I eat a few chips from my lunch. A couple of kids join us as usual. Today we have Sarah and Raina, who talk only about themselves, Anthony, Raina's boyfriend, and Tony, who hits on me all the time. From Tim's class there's Ashley and Sierra, who have undying crushes on him, Oliver, who has a creepy crush on me, and James, who is the only normal one out of the whole group. Its always a different bunch of people who want to talk to the billinaire's kids, hoping we'll give them money or something.

"Why do you always sit with your little brother?" Raina asks as she twirls her blonde hair as she sits down. The table is circular and the upperclassmen are on one side, while the lower classmen are on the other. Tony sits next to me, a little closer than I like, and Anthony sits beside him. Next to him is Raina, followed by Sarah. I scoot closer to Tim in an attempt to get away from Tony's suffocating closeness and try to refrain from rolling my eyes as I answer Raina.

"Because, I like him, Raina. He's my brother and I like spending time with him." How many times is she going to have to ask this question before she gets it through her thick skull? Of course, none of them acknowledge Tim because he's younger, but I look over at him apologetically. He smiles in understanding. Just then I hear bickering from Tim's right. There are Ashley and Sierra fighting over who gets to sit by Tim.

"No me, you sat by him last time!"

"No I didn't! Besides I had to leave early."

"So? I'm prettier. Did you see the way he looked at me last week?"

"He was looking at me, Sierra!"

"No he wasn't." Tim groans and places his head in his hands as I try not to laugh. Luckily for him, James comes in at that point. Moving around the girls, he grabs the seat next to Tim before either of them could sit.

"Thank you!" Tim cries. The two girls angrily sit down beside James, glaring daggers at the 'seat stealer'. Then comes Oliver, who sits down with his food between Ashley and Sarah. He stares at me while he eats his food. That's all he ever does when he sits at our table. I shiver. He's really creepy!

"Yo, babe. Can you pass the ketchup?" Tony asks me. I close my eyes in annoyance before turning to him.

"Do not call me 'babe', Tony." I say for the millionth time since I've met the guy. I slide the ketchup bottle towards him.

"Why not?" Anthony asks, putting an arm around Raina. "I call Raina 'babe'."

"But you and Raina are dating. Tony and I aren't." I answer.

"We could change that." he says, scooting closer to me again.

"No." Meanwhile, Tim and James are watching what's going on, while Ashley and Sierra are commenting on how cute Tim looks when he's angry.

"I don't see what's wrong with it." Sarah pipes in. "You might even like it!" I glare at her.

"Don't encourage him."

"Come on, baby. What have you got to lose?" I grit my teeth and ball up my fists, desperately trying to give myself reasons why I shouldn't punch him.

"The contents of my stomach." I answer, rolling my eyes. Raina gives an exhasperated sigh.

"Well, Christmas break is coming soon. I'm sure the Wayne family is doing something exciting." Tim turns to James, now that the tension is over, and I hear them start talking about some new video game.

"Not that I know of." I answer her truthfully. "Bruce is probably having one of his parties, but thats about it."

"Oh, I'll see you there." Raina said. "Daddy will probably be invited- him being the mayor and everything." she giggled. I force a smile back at her as I finish off my lunch. The bell rings and I'm glad lunch went so fast. Everyone gets up and throws their stuff away.

"See you after school, Tim." I say.

"Yeah. And stay away from that Tony guy." He says, quieter. "I don't like him."

"That makes two of us." I say making a face. He laughs and we head to class.


	7. Just in Time

_**Author's Note: Sorry it's taken me so long, just trying to decide where I want to go with this story. After some pleading from **__**Miles333**__**, I finally decided to write it out and appease her boredom. Hope y'all enjoy it!**_

_**Disclaimer: I only own Sapphire, Tony, and random others that you do not recognize. Yeah that's right, Tony's back. Ugh!**_

**Chapter 7- Just in Time**

The next day, after gymnastics (which is my last class period), I change quickly and head back to the room. Knowing that Tim usually takes forever to get to the front of the school where Alfred picks us up, I decide to work on the uneven bars for a few more minutes before I head out the door.

I'm wearing a grey skirt with white leggings and some black shorts on underneath and a black shirt, so it is alot more comfortable than my leotard.

I finish with a perfect landing when I hear someone clapping from the doorway. I turn, thinking it's Tim, only to see Tony with a couple of his creepy friends. I roll my eyes and grab my backpack and gym bag.

"Hey baby, that was pretty hot!' He smirks. I snort in disgust.

"Whatever." I say as I approach the group of guys. In reality they're not that bad looking and there are a quite a few girls after them at the school, but I hate cocky guys and out of everyone I've met- Tony is one of the cockiest. "You're in my way." I shoulder my bag, waiting for them to move. They don't budge. "Didn't you hear me? You're in my way."

I watch as his face contorts into a smile that reminds me of Dick's imitation of the Joker. I freeze in place as he grabs my chin roughly and brings it up to kiss me. His lips are about to crash into mine when I realize what's going on and punch him, pulling myself from his grip just in time. He falls back and I turn around, heading to the other exit.

When I realize he and his friends are following me, I throw my bags at them, knocking two of his friends over. I speed up, knowing that my strength in fighting usually comes from my acrobatics which I can't use for fear it would give away who I am. I curse under my breath as I veer into an empty classroom. The light is off and it actually gives me some comfort to realize I'm in my element, if only for the moment.

I only have a few seconds to breathe before the five guys come barrelling into the room. I hold my breath as they search for the light and crouch behind a desk in the back of the room. When it flicks on, the guys' eyes take a moment to adjust to the light before they spot me. I bite my lip, trying to think of a way to get out of this.

Quickly, I kick the desk I just hid behind and it hits one of the guys sending him reeling backwards. Two of the other guys jump at me and we start fighting. It's going well for a few moments until Tony kicks me in the back. The two guys move as I hit the ground, hard.

I groan and roll over, only to be pinned down by Tony. I'm panicking now. Usually when I fight this many guys, I'm with Tim and we're in costume.

Thinking of Tim, I scream at the top of my lungs hoping someone will hear me. Angrily, Tony mashes his lips against mine and my eyes go wide with panic. I continue to struggle, but realize it's no use.

Just then the door bangs open to reveal Tim and I think I'm about to faint with happiness. Tony looks up and I take the advantage of his distraction to move my leg out from under him and knock him off of me. Immediately, Tim jumps into the bray and starts fighting and I can tell he's pretty pissed. I almost feel sorry for these guys. I fight two of the guys, careful to stay away from Tony. Luckily, Tim's focusing all his energy on the guy, not giving him a chance to run.

"What is going on in here?" an outraged voice comes from the doorway. Our principal, Mr. Williamson is standing there. Everyone freezes. Angrily he motions for us to follow him to his office.

* * *

I lean on Tim's shoulder as we drive home, Alfred driving as usual. He was even angry at what had happened. I could practically feel the heat radiating off of Tim and grimace, realizing Dick and Bruce will also be pretty pissed. Principal Williamson had told us all to go home and that he'd deal with us all tomorrow afternoon. He gave us that day off and said he'd see us after school.

I'm glad. I don't want to put up with that yet. To tell you the truth, I'm pretty shaken up. I don't like feeling vulnerable and that idiot nearly raping me brought back all the memories of being beaten by my dad and reminded me of how weak I am.

The tears start to pour as Alfred pulls up to Wayne Manor. I hate crying, but today everything is off-balance and I can't hold the tears back like I normally do.

"I'll call Master Bruce. He will want to be informed immediately." Alfred informs us as he opens the door for us. Tim helps me out and holds me as I cry.

"Better call Dick too." Tim adds. "Oh, and you might want to wait until they get here to tell them. You know how they are when they're angry."

Alfred nodds and briskly heads toward the house. Tim helps me to my room and leaves after a moment to let me change. I pull out a pair of sweat pants and a long-sleeved shirt. I look in the mirror as I peel off my messed up clothes.

My leggings are torn, but besides that my clothes are okay. However, my wrist is swollen and stiff, hurting whenever I move it. I hope it's not broken, but figure I'll find out when Bruce or Dick notices it. My cheek and arm are bruised and my hair dishevelled. I pull it up in a quick ponytail and throw my leggings in the trash as I head out the door of my room.

I wipe away another tear. They just don't seem to stop coming. How could some jerk at school do this to me? How dare he hurt me like this! After all the healing my dad and brothers brought, one stupid act of lust brakes the dam and let the rush of fears come flowing out. I struggle to hold back sobs as I sit down on the couch in the living room and pick up a pillow, squeezing it tight. I bite my lip and close my eyes, wishing it all away.

I hear the door open and Bruce come into the house. His voice rings clearly through the house.

"What happened?" he asks. "You said there was an emergency. Where are Tim and Sapphire?" I feel the couch indent as Tim comes into the room and sits down beside me. I hear Bruce coming with Alfred to show him we are both safe.

But I don't feel safe anymore.

I open my eyes, breathing deeply to calm myself. Bruce walks in and looks at me, when he sees how upset I am, his jaw stiffens.

"What happened?" He repeats, looking Tim and I over.

"Some, er, guys at school," Tim says, his own jaw tightening with anger. "Tried to rape Sapph. I got there just in time."

Bruce's eyes flash with anger and he grabs the nearest thing, which happens to be a lamp and throws it against a wall. I watch as it shatters and falls to the floor without flinching, but the tears are still pouring. He walks over to me and pulls me into a fierce hug and I close my eyes, enjoying the safety of a father's embrace. I'm surprised at just how many tears I can shed as I begin to sob and he holds me tighter.

After I finally stop crying, he can tell I'm exhausted. He picks me up and cradles me, carrying me to my room. He pulls back the covers and tucks me into them. He sits on the side of the bed and strokes my hair gently saying,

"It's okay, Sapphire. You're going to be okay. I won't let anything happen to you." I drift off to sleep, knowing I'm safe when he's there.

* * *

I wake up in my room by myself about an hour later, I'm guessing. When my stomach rumbles I decide to head downstairs, realizing it's close to dinner anyway. As I pass Bruce's study I hear someone yelling.

"Dick's home." I mumble. I change directions and head toward the doorway.

"Someone tried to _what_?!" Dick's voice rings out. There's silence. He curses loudly and I hear something crash. "Who is this kid? I swear I'm gonna kill him!"

I grimace as I walk in the room and see the vase Dick has apparently thrown. His face is bright red with anger. Tim and Bruce both look angry as well, but they'd had more time to cool off.  
"Hey Dick." I say quietly. He turns and I see all the color drain from his face. I see him scanning my body for injuries and his eyes dart to my cheek, arm, and wrist. I realize my eyes are probably still red from crying earlier.

"Are you okay?" he asks as he hugs me tight. I feel the tears rise up again and struggle to choke them down. He lets go and gently lifts my wrist up. He moves it a little and the tears sting my eyes as the pain radiates from it.

"It's broken." he says after a moment, turning to look at Bruce. "Alfred will have to make her a cast.

"So I guess patrol tonight-" I start to ask.

"No!" the three men yell in unison.


	8. Escaped

_**Author's Note: So it's been a long time since I've updated. Sorry guys! I've been trying to figure out where I'm going with this and such. Hope you enjoy the new chapter.**_

_**Disclaimer: Sapphire/Dark Falcon is mine. The rest are property of DC comics. *sniffles***_

_**Chapter 8- Escaped**_

That night, I sit in the Batcave monitoring the Batcomputer for any signs of criminal activity that I can clue the others in on in the two cities.  
"Stupid cast!" I mutter under my breath. My wrist is killing me and making it hard to type, but the cast is making it harder. I sigh, wondering if I will get to patrol soon. Likely Dick will be completely against it, but maybe I can convince Bruce and Tim.

Suddenly, a blinking light comes on the Gotham map and I zoom it in to catch where it is. I tap my communicator.

"Guys, trouble at the Gotham bank on 31st." I tell them.

"I'm about two minutes away." Robin informs me. I nod, though I know he can't see me. I start attempting to hack into the security cameras. Barbara had been teaching me how to hack into security systems and hopefully it would pay off, besides the Batcomputer had some tricks that normal computers couldn't do that helped.

It takes about a minute, but finally I got access. I slide through the camera screens until I find the culprit.

"I hacked into the cameras. Joker again."

"So he's out again." Batman's gruff voice answers me.

"Looks like it." I answer, squinting at the screen. Harley and Joker are making their way toward the vault with about ten henchmen. I bite my lower lip and furrow my brow. If they just got out of jail, how did they get henchmen so quickly? Whoever they're working with I guess. Which reminds me...

"Batman, did you ever get to go over those security tapes?" I ask after a moment.

"Yes."

"And..." I prompt him.

"Someone cut out a full minute of footage. Plenty of time for him to get out." I frown, slumping back into my seat as I watch Robin jump out from a side door and crash into one of the henchmen. Batman's not far behind him. Suddenly, I get an idea.

I take a deep breath.

"I'm going to Arkham." I say, getting up from my chair, though still looking at the screen.

"NO!" Three voices yell in my ear, making me jump. I see a confused look pass over Joker's face at Batman and Robin's outbursts.

"Ow! You don't have to make me go deaf." I answer.

"You're not going anywhere." Nightwing's voice comes over my earpiece. He's still in Bludhaven with Batgirl.

"That's not for you to say, Nightwing." I answer angrily as I pull on my costume. "I'm gonna look for some clues, maybe whoever helped him will still be at the scene of the crime."

"Look, Dark Falcon, if you leave the Batcave-" he starts to grind out.

"Fine." Batman says and I smile, though I was going to go whether they approved of it or not.

"What?!" Nightwing yells. "Falcon..." he says in a warning tone.

"You don't scare me and I was going to go whether Batman approved or not. We can talk about this tomorrow." I say, ending the argument.

"Be safe." I hear Robin remind me.

"I will."

About three minutes later, I'm just outside of Arkham's entrance. I had nabbed Nightwing's spare bike so I would get here faster, though I knew he would kill me. Luckily, I had been learning how to ride and even have my permit for it now, not that it really mattered. I cut off the engine and put my helmet on the seat as I head for the entrance.

After sneaking in, I find Joker's cell. The door is slightly ajar, so I slip through and look around. There isn't much of anything so I step back out again. I study the door for some sort of damage or some indication of a way someone could have freed him. Nothing. They must have used the key, which further proves my guess of getting them in and out again.

I hear footsteps coming in this direction and slip into the shadows as a nurse makes her way down the hall. She stops at Joker's door and smiles. I study her appearance. She's slim with slightly tanned skin and light brown hair pulled into a bun. As she turns to look around I take a picture of her with a small camera from my utility belt. She starts to walk away and I step out again.

"I'm guessing you're an accomplice." I say, arms crossed in front of my chest. The nurse turns back around, eyes wide.

"I- um. I didn't-" she says nervously and I walk toward her.  
"Who do you work for?" I ask eyes narrowing. Just as I think the woman's about to cower, she surprises me and does just the opposite. She punches at me, but I block it just in time.

"Wouldn't you like to know." she states slyly. She kicks my stomach and knocks me back, but I grab her ankle and twist it, knocking her to the floor. This results in a few more minutes of fighting, until I finally get her arm twisted behind her back and shove her up against a wall.

"You're under arrest." I tell her with a smirk.

"Like that's stopped Joker or anyone else very effectively." she sneers. I twist her arm more painfully behind her back and she hisses in pain.

I start to say something else but am interrupted by someone behind me.

"Sorry, but we need her." A female voice says. It says and I feel a sharp pain in the back of my head. I release my grip on her as I fall to the ground and everything goes black.

* * *

"There's someone here!" I hear a voice yell as I regain consciousness.

"Who is it?"

"It's a Bat, I think. The new one."

"Whoa. You're right."

I open my eyes slowly, aware of an acute pain in the back of my head. I groan in pain as my blurry vision starts to clear.

"She's waking up." I look over to two security guards who look to be in their twenties, only a few years older than Dick.

"What are you doing here?" one of them asks.

"Supposed to be stopping whoever's been helping Joker." I grumble as I stand up slowly. "Guess it didn't work."

Both men look at each other wide-eyed. I start to feel a little uneasy with two men being right in front of me and I take a step back, keeping my expression blank.

"How did you know he was gone? We just now found out." the other guy asks. Before I can answer a voice crackles over their walkie-talkies.

"This is a 11854. We have two other escapees- Poison Ivy and Penguin." The men forget the conversation and turn to run toward the crime scene. I take that as my opportunity to leave, grateful that the men are gone and also wondering how long I was out. I check the time and realize I was probably only unconscious for a few minutes.

As I exit the building, I tap my communicator before jumping on Nightwing's bike and put on the helmet.

"Poison Ivy and the Penguin just escaped too." I informed the others as I started up the motor.

"Great and Joker just got away." Robin answered her.

"Did you find anything?" Batman asked.

"Well, I found out who it was that was helping them. Didn't get a name though." I answer as I motor toward the Batcave.

"What do you mean? They got away?" Robin asks.

"Yes." I grumble.

"How?" Batman asks this time. I sigh exhasperatedly.

"I had her, but someone snuck up behind me and hit me across the head with something. They knocked me unconscious for a few minutes. Enough time to make their escape." I say quickly. "But I did get a picture of her, so at least we can probably find a name."

"Go back to the Batcave and we'll check it when we get back."

I reach the Batcave once again and put up NIghtwing's bike exactly like I found it, in hopes he won't notice it's been used. I peel off my costume and check myself in the mirror. I've got a few more bruises on my stomach and a good-sized bump I can feel on the back of my head, but nothing major. I put my sweatpants and tshirt on before dropping back into the chair in front of the Batcomputer.

I download the picture of the nurse onto the computer and save it, not really knowing how to cross-reference it yet. I turn the screen back to the maps of Gotham city and Bludhaven. It's then that I start to get fidgety.

Great. Now I'm scared in the Batcave. I bite my lower lip, a bat's not supposed to be afraid of the dark, but I'm feeling afraid right now. I can imagine someone popping out of any of the shadows to nab me. It doesn't matter that I know these fears are irrational and the only people who can get in the Batcave are Bruce, Tim, Dick, Alfred, and Barbara.

"It's nothing, Sapph." I tell myself. After a few more seconds, I hit the intercom button on the panel in front of me.

"Alfred?" I ask quickly.

"Yes Miss Sapphire?" he answers and I take a calming breath.

"Is there any way you could bring down a snack or something? I would really appreciate it."

"Of course, Miss Sapphire. I'll be down in a few moments." I smile knowing I won't be alone for long. Even if it's only a few moments of company. I settle back in my chair, hoping he'll hurry.

"You'v gotten worse at-" a voice starts saying beside me, but I scream, cutting it off and jump away from it. This succeeds in knocking my chair over on top of me.

"Are you okay, Sapph?" the voice asks again and I realize the voice belongs to Dick, who is still in his Nightwing costume minus the mask. He jumps over to help me get the chair off and helps me up.

"Fine." I respond through gritted teeth. I feel like an idiot for freaking out like that, angry at Dick because he scared the crap out of me, and want to cry because of how much it scared me.

Dick eyes me worriedly before pulling the chair upright and making sure I sit down in it.

I rub the back of my head, wincing as I realize I hit my bruise when I fell.

"What are you doing back so soon?" I ask as I lean back in the chair and study the computer screen once again.

"Checking on you." he answers as Alfred comes down the stairs with a plateful of cookies.

"Here you go, Miss Sapphire. There's plenty here for Master Richard as well." He says, setting the plate beside the computer panel.

"Thank you, Alfred." I smile and he returns it before heading back up the stairs. I turn back to Dick indignantly as he snatches a cookie.

"Checking on me?" I ask angrily. "Why would you come to check on me?"

"Because you got knocked out." he answers. "You shouldn't have gone out in the first place."

"Well too bad, because I did. And I can take care of myself." I answer indignantly.

"Well excuse me for having some brotherly compassion." he retorts.

"More like overprotectiveness."


	9. Meeting the JL

_**Author's Note: Yay! I updated way faster than before! *smiles happily*. I enjoyed this chapter immensely. You'll see why. Plus there's even a little Teen Titan's referencing for those of you who watch it.  
Also, with this addition, all 3 of my stories are on chapter 9. How amusing is that? Okay, maybe not to you... but it made me smile. Now, enough with the rambling- on with the story!**_

_**Disclaimer: Sapphire/Dark Falcon is mine. The rest are property of DC Comics. **_

**Chapter 9- Meet the JL**

"Mercy Graves." Batman says after taking one look at the picture. Only three of us are in the Batcave now- Tim, Bruce, and I. They just got back from patrol and changed back to normal clothes.

"Huh?"

"Mercy Graves. Lex Luthor's chauffer. Which means Luthor's involved."

"Lovely." I answer.

"So what are we gonna do? We've got Lex, Joker, Ivy, and Penguin together now." Tim says as he sits on the arm of the chair, which I'm currently sitting in. The chair starts tilting sideways so I elbow him and he jumps back up, glaring at me as he rubs his side.

"And likely more than that." Bruce speculates. "We're going to inform the League."

"What?" Tim groans.

"We may need their help if things get out of hand. You will be coming with me to the Watchtower."

"What? Why?" he asks, surprised.

"Because if we have to call for help, we don't want them getting you confused with the enemy."

"Good point." Tim says. "I wouldn't want Superman _accidentally_ punching me through a wall."

"He may do that anyway." I laugh. "You're annoying enough."

"Hey!"

The next morning, I wake up and head down stairs in my pajamas. I sit as Alfred puts a plate with chocolate chip waffles on it in front of me. I look over at Bruce as I swallow my first bite.

"So when are we going to the Watchtower?"

"An hour." he answers. "I called a meeting with the other founding members."

"So we're really just inviting them into our city?" Tim asks with a frown. I have to agree. None of us like the idea of the Justice League being in Gotham and we know Bruce usually doesn't either.

"We're not inviting them." He answers. "We're just insuring backup in case we need it. Besides, some of these criminals are likely Justice League foes and better dealt with by them."

"Are Dick and Babs coming too?" I ask.

"Dick is. Barbara said she couldn't make it." he responds, taking a sip from his coffee.

An hour later, we're all in full costume and loaded into the Batplane. Batman gets pilot seat and Nightwing claims co-pilot seat, so Tim and I get the two closest seats to the front.

"Dick doesn't actually get to touch any of the controls, does he?" I ask as I buckle my seat belt. "Because if he is, I'm getting off." Tim snickers as Dick turns his masked face towards me.

"Oh, ha ha, Sapph. You keep talking like that and I might lose concentration and crash us."

"I have to agree with Sapph here. I fear for my life right now." Tim piped in. Dick sulked in the front.

"Aww, Nightwing's pouting." I say, mock frowning.

"Sapphire.." he growls.

"Stop arguing." Bruce orders. "Let's go."

Twenty minutes later, we're entering the Javelin bay inside the Watchtower. The Batplane jerks as it lands and I let out the breath I'd been holding.

"Could you stop gripping my arm, Sapph? I think it's about to fall off!" Tim complains. I roll my eyes and let go, thankful that I can finally get out of this thing.

As we walk through the hallways, Tim leads the way and I'm right behind him. We're trailed by Bruce and Dick. Dick calls out directions to us when we needed us and we end up going the right way.

We reach the Control Deck and are greeted by a red blur that speeds around us once and stops in front of us, materializing into a man in a red costume I recognize as the Flash.

"Hey Bats, Nightwing." He greets with a goofy smile. He appears to be about the same age as Dick and about the same height.

"These are Robin and Dark Falcon." Batman tells him, introducing Tim and I. Flash smiles once again.

"I recognize you're old uniform, Nightwing." he smiles and sticks out his hand. "Nice to meet you. I'm Flash." Robin shakes his hand and I do the same. He looks me up and down. "Spandex doesn't look so bad on you." He says, letting out a low whistle.

Before I even realize what I'm doing, my fist makes contact with his face and he reels back a few steps. I clench my teeth angrily.

"Sorry. Reflex." I say sarcastically as Robin steps partially in front of me.

"Gaww!" he yells, putting his hand over his left eye, where I'd hit him.

"Hey!" A woman who was a little shorter with red hair, wings, and a mace in her hands yells, coming from behind him. I recognize her as Hawkgirl, who now goes by her real name, Shayera. "What do you think you're doing?" she asks angrily. It's then that I notice there are others behind him.

"Back off, bird lady!" Robin yells, stepping fully in front of me now. She glares at him, but stays where she is. I see Flash smirk.

"Sorry, Robin. Didn't know I was movin' in on your girlfriend." he laughs. Both Robin and I make a face and I hear Nightwing snort from behind us.

"She's our sister, Wally, not Robin's girlfriend." he says, then more seriously warns him saying, "And we're very protective of her."

"Whoops." Flash responds. "Sorry about that."

"Well, we can tell she's yours, Batman." Green Lantern says from behind Flash with a smile. I smirk at that.

Just then, J'onn J'onnz comes inside a sliding door.

"Come. Let's begin the meeting."

Batman informed us on the plane that we wouldn't get to attend the meeting. They had other League business to discuss and it would probably take a while. We sit on a little bench that's conveniently placed just outside the door

"Great first impression, Sapph." Nightwing remarks quietly from my right. I roll my eyes, though no one can tell under my mask.

"He was asking for it." I grumble, then smile. "Besides, I'm not the one that called Shayera 'Bird Lady'."

"Hey, I was defending you. Be appreciative." He answers from my left.

"My hero!" I answer raising a hand to my forehead and faking a southern belle accent.

"Got that right." he mumbles before turning his attention to his stomach. "I'm hungry. Is there anywhere to eat around here?"

"Yeah, come on bird-boy." Nightwing answers, standing up.

"You're one to talk."

"Do you want me to show you the food or not?"

"Fine. Lead the way." Robin grumbles. I roll my eyes again and follow the two of them as we walk through a few hallways and end up in the cafeteria. Many of the tables are full with a variety of different heroes in various different colored costumes.

We find an empty table and Nightwing and I sit down as Tim grabs a plate and proceeds in shoveling food onto his plate.

"Maybe I can find an old friend of mine from the Titans." he says, more to himself than to me. He looks around before he spots someone.

"Hey Arrow!" he yells to a table nearby. A guy with blonde hair in a green, robin hood-style costume, complete with bow and arrow turns around. "You know if Speedy's up here today?" The man shrugs.

"I don't know. I don't keep tabs on my ex-sidekick." he answers and turns back to his table.

"That's ex-PARTNER!" another guy yells from behind us. We turn around and my brother smiles. I'm guessing this is the guy he's looking for. His outfit is somewhat similiar, but red, as was his hair.

"Hey Speedy!" Nightwing greets him as Robin sits beside me with his tray of food. "Come sit with us."

He sits on the other side of Nightwing from me and looks at Robin for a minute.

"Man, its weird seeing another kid in your old costume." he laughs. "Makes me think I'm talking to the wrong person."

"This is my little brother I told you about." Nightwing smiles, gesturing to Tim who is now stuffing his face. "And this is my new little sister. Before you do something stupid, because you're likely to, she's too young for you and also doesn't take kindly to you telling her she's 'hot'. Neither do we." he says, referring to Tim and himself, then smiles."Besides, Flash already tried and she decked him for it."

The last development sends Dick's friend into a fit of laughter that causes more than a few heroes at nearby tables to give us odd looks. Finally, he regains his composure.

"You really did that?" he asks me. I shrug.

"He had it coming." I answer, stealing a chip from Tim's plate.

"Name's Speedy." he laughs, reaching his hand across the table. "Please don't deck me."

"Dark Falcon." I respond, shaking his hand firmly with a smile. "And if you stay in line, I won't have to."

"So what are you three doing on the Watchtower?" he asks curiously. Tim takes this as his turn to speak.

"Trouble in Gotham. Batman's informing the other founding members in case we end up needing backup. He brought us so we're not mistaken for the enemy and Superman doesn't send us through a wall."

"That would definitely be interesting." Speedy remarks.

"Though after punching Flash, Shayera might take his place and 'accidentally' send me through a wall." I add.

"And Robin after he called her 'Bird Lady'." Nightwing adds, smirking.

"Does everyone have to keep questioning my judgement on that? It was spur of the moment." he defends, exhasperatedly.

"I heard Shayera's actually nice. Just hot-tempered. Plus she thinks of Flash as a brother." Speedy says. "Though the bird remark is definitely interesting..."

"Why do I try to help people?" Robin mutters.

"'Cause you're my hero, remember?"

**_A/N: Gotta love the sibling bickering... I think that's what makes me like writing this story. Anyway, let me know what you think about the chapter, the bickering, and the punching and leave me a review. :D_**


	10. An Unexpected Guest

_**Author's Note: Well, I've just thought of a new twist that I'll put in this chapter. :D Let me know what you think about it.  
BTW, I just got sesason one of Justice League on DVD. Though I got it for way more than I should have had to pay for it, and I'd already opened it by the time I realized I could get it for cheaper. *shrugs* Anyway, on with the story!**_

_**Disclaimer: Sapphire/Dark Falcon and Braden are mine. **_

**Chapter 10- An Unexpected Guest**

_"I took a chance, I took a shot  
And you might think I'm bullet proof  
But I'm not  
You took a swing, I took it hard  
And down here from the ground  
I see who you are."  
~Tell Me Why by Taylor Swift~_

After talking with Speedy, Nightwing found a few more of his friends from his 'Titan days' and talked to them for a while. I also found out that the Flash was one of his old friends. Whoops...

Anyway, the ride home was still scary for me and Tim kept complaining that I had nearly cut off his circulation. Geez, for a hero you'd think he'd complain less.

That afternoon, while Bruce went to the meeting with the principal, Tim and Dick were playing video games in the living room while I read a book on the other couch.

"Come on, Dick. You can do better than that!"

"What was that, bird boy? I can't hear you over the sound of the crowd cheering for me." There are a few moments of silence.

"Yes! I won!" Tim screams as little bells go off, signalling a victory.

I roll my eyes as Alfred walks in, wearing a curious expression.

"Miss Sapphire, a young man here to see you." he tells me. I look over at Tim and Dick, eyebrows furrowed and they return the confused expression.

"Who is it?" I ask, marking my page and setting down my book before sitting up.

"He said you'd know him when you saw him." he answers, also looking a bit worried. I bite my lip warily.

"If it's that Tony guy, he'll be safer outside the house." Dick says, fists balling up.

"Alright, send him in, I guess." I answer cautiously. I can't imagine who would be coming to see me, but if he means trouble, my brothers are here to protect me. I take comfort in that.

"Right away, Miss Sapphire."

"Who do you think it is, Sapph?" Tim asks as he turns the volume off on the TV.

"I don't know." I answer as I stand and walk to the wall behind the couch to put my book back on the shelf. "But whoever it is, they'd better not-" I stop midsentence and drop the book I'm holding as the visitor steps through the door behind Alfred. My mouth drops open in shock as I recognize the boy in front of me.

He's nineteen with short strawberry blonde hair and green eyes and stands about the same height as Dick.

"What are you doing here?" I finally ask, gritting my teeth.

"I'm offended. You don't want me here?" he asks, feigning shock.

"Who is this guy, Sapph?" Tim asks, looking between us worriedly. I see Dick cross his arms over his chest and raise an eyebrow suspiciously.

"Braden. Braden Evans." He says, smiling and extending his hand toward Tim. Tim shakes it uncertainly, but Dick just stares at it before looking back at me.

"He's my _biological_ brother." I answer them, putting emphasis on the word 'biological'. He's not my brother in any other way. "Now what are you doing here?" I notice Tim's eyes grow wide and he looks at Dick, whose eyes only narrow.

"You'd think my baby sister would greet me with a little more kindness after not seeing me for two years. Aren't you happy to see me?" Braden says reaching to place a hand on my shoulder, but I slap it away.

"No." I answer dryly. "What do you want?"

"Look, is there a place we can talk?" he relents, glancing at Dick, who's glaring at him, and Tim who's still looking very confused.

_The Nightglare strikes again._ I think, smirking internally. It was definitely making Braden feel uneasy.

"I guess." I answer, motioning for him to follow me. I nod at Tim and Dick, letting them know I'm fine and they both sit down warily on the couch as I lead Braden into Bruce's study, knowing he won't mind if I use it.

I point to a chair by the small fireplace and he sits as I close the door.

"Pretty nice place here." He says, as I sit in the chair across from him. "But of course a millionaire could afford it."

"Why are you here?" I ask, patience waning.

"What? A guy can't check in on his sister's safety in her new home?"

"You never cared before. In fact, you were always the one to compromise it." He shrugs.

"Look, I heard about your kidnapping- how Joker thought you were 'Batgirl' or something. Ha! You can't even defend yourself against dear old Dad. I told him he was making a mistake." He mumbled the last part so quietly, I almost didn't catch it.

"What do you mean 'you told him'? You know the Joker?" I ask, clearly shocked.

"Shhh." he says quickly, then leans in. "I work for him. One of his henchmen." he leans back as if it's something to be proud of. My mouth drops open in shock.

"You work for the Joker?" I muster. He rolls his eyes.

"Don't act all high and mighty like it's such a big deal." he says. "Besides, I don't just work for the Joker now. A bunch of the villians are teaming up with them. Lex Luthor, Star Sapphire, Volcana, Poison Ivy..." he tells me, listing them off on one hand. "And a bunch of others."

"Why?" I ask, eyes widening considerably.

"Just some scheme to get rid of the Justice League, anyway- never mind, that's not why I'm here." he says, shaking his head sloppily. He stands and grabs a blue vase and studying it. "How much do you think this is worth?"

"That's what you're here for? To steal from us?!" I yell angrily as I jump up from my chair and grab the vase. I set it back where it came from and glare at Braden.

"What's the matter, sis? Mr. Wayne can't spare a little change?" he taunts and grabs my chin, forcing me to look at him. "Besides, you have a loyalty to your kin."

I pull my chin away and shove my finger in his chest.  
"You're not my brother anymore. Tim and Dick are, they're better brothers than you'll ever be!" He shoves me back. "And besides that, you're drunk! You always were good at hiding it." I had been wondering why he was letting all that Joker stuff spill so easily. This made more sense.

I shake my head in disgust.

"You're just like our dad."

He grabs the collar of my shirt and pulls me up next to his face.

"Shut up, Sapphire. I'll never be like him." He says and throws me to the ground. I get up, still fuming.

"You've always been like him!" I accuse. "You're a drunk like him! You've beaten me, just like he has. And what's worse, you'd get him angry and then run- leaving me to defend myself- which you knew I couldn't do."

"I said, Shut up!" He yells, grabbing a book from the shelf and throwing it at me. I dodge it and it hits the door instead.

"Get out of my house!" I scream. "Now!"

"Not until we relive old times, little sis." He answers as he lunges at me. I dodge him and move behind the chair he'd sat in before. I know what he means. The memories of him beating me when he was angry are all too fresh in my mind.

"I said, Get out!" I yell again. He lunges over the chair and knocks both it and me over at the same time. I kick him in the stomach and roll to the side, to get out of the way.

Just then, Tim and Dick burst in and the latter immediately tackles Braden, while Tim runs over to help me up. Before he can say anything, Bruce runs into the room. His presence effectively stops the two boys throwing punches at each other on the floor.

Bruce strides over to Braden and picks him up by the collar of his shirt.

"Who are you?" he questions him.

"Braden, sir." he answers quickly.

"He's my _biological_ brother." I offer coldly. "He attacked me."

Bruce's eyes turn cold as he twists my brother's collar and ushers him to the door, the rest of us trailing.

"But I'm her brother." Braden tries to defend himself, as they stand on the porch, and does a very poor job of it. Bruce pulls him up to eye level.

"I don't care if you're Batman. No one touches my daughter or my sons." he tells him forcefully. "Now get out of my house." Bruce literally throws him off the front porch and onto the pavement, where he skids painfully. "I'd better not catch you around here _ever _again." He threatens, before turning and slamming the door.

"Are you okay, Sapph?" Tim asks, looking at me now. Both he and Dick were a little stunned at Bruce's reaction, and the whole ordeal in general, but the former came out of it first.

I wrap my arms around him and then Dick, giving them each a hug.

"You are the best brothers I could ask for." I tell them with a bright smile. I then run over to Bruce.

"And you're the best dad I could ever hope for." I laugh as Bruce, somewhat awkwardly wraps his arms around me as well.

Alfred walks in just then, cool and collected as always.

"Master Br-" he starts, before I lunge for him as well and wrap my arms around him.

"And you're the best...well...Alfred I could ever want."

He chuckles at my antics.

"I suppose this is to be taken as a compliment?" he asks.

"Yes, Alfred. A very good compliment." I inform him. This causes him to smile.

"Well, if everyone is ready, so is lunch." We all turn, ready to walk away as the door bell rings.

Dick is the first one to it.

"Look if you-" he starts, but stops when he realizes it's not my brother at the door. Instead a guy close to Braden's age with red hair and green eyes is standing there.

"You know, I'm kinda worried this is a bad time." the guy says, looking at Bruce as a goofy grin plasters itself across his face. "Should I wait and come back later?" He had obviously seen Bruce throw Braden off the porch.

Dick looks over at me, as if asking for my approval, which I don't understand because I have no idea who this guy is. He appears to be a friend of Dick's, so I shrug. Dick laughs and rolls his eyes, realizing I don't understand and turns back to his friend.

"You're fine, Wally. Come on in."


	11. Panic

_**Author's Note: So yesterday I went to Target to see if I could use a giftcard I got at a Christmas party and guess what I found in the $1 section- Justice League Unlimited coloring books!!!!!!!! I spazzed and my dad started making fun of me... but it was worth it. I also got some rockin' batman pens!  
Anyway, on with the story!**_

_**Disclaimer: Sapphire/Dark Falcon and Braden belong to me. The others belong to the DC Universe.**_

**Chapter 11- Panic**

"Master Wallace, I trust you will be joining us for lunch. I will prepare a place for you at the table." Alfred says and turns to leave. We all follow him, and take our seats. Bruce is at the head of the table as usual, with Tim and I on one side and Dick and Wally on the other.

"Man, Bruce, letting a little too much of the Bat out today, aren't we?" Wally laughed as he sat down, obviously referring to the display on the porch. "Especially liked the 'I don't care if you're Batman' comment."

Tim chokes on his food beside me and I try not to spit my water back into the glass.

"Maybe some introductions are due." Wally says, realizing the other two didn't know who he was.

"Yeah, I think so." Tim answers, looking thoroughly confused as he glances at Dick.

"Tim, Sapphire, this is Wally West- also known as Flash." he says.

It takes me a moment to process this before I jump up abruptly.

"You!" I yell angrily, causing Wally to jerk back instinctively. "What are you doing here?"

"Well, I-" he starts, but I cut him off, too angry to listen.

"You know what- I don't want to hear it." I say, throwing my hands up in the air and turning around to leave. "I've had enough _visitors _today."

"No wait!" Wally yells and is suddenly in front of me, using his super-speed no doubt. He grabs my shoulders and I panic, pushing his arms away.

"Don't touch me." I say, defensively, taking a step back.

"Wally..." I hear Bruce's warning from the table.

"Look, I'm just trying to-" he says, putting a hand on my shoulder, regardless of both warnings. I take a few steps back, eyes widening. I'm feeling trapped and am starting to hyperventilate.

"Wally, leave her alone." Dick says. "You're scaring her." I see a look of confusion pass over Wally's face.

"But I'm trying to apologize." he says, stepping back from me. I feel the tears stinging my eyes as Dick comes up behind me. He gently turns me around and looks me in the eye.

"It's okay, Sapph." he said, pulling me into a hug and I relax as my brother's arms wrap around me protectively.

After a few moments, I've regained my composure and pull away, glad I didn't cry.

"Okay, let's get back to the meal before Alfred skins us alive." I say, trying to show my family I'm alright.

"Why don't you go upstairs and calm down a little?" Dick suggests, watching me with worried eyes.

"I'm fine." I answer quickly.

I mentally berate myself for panicking as I sit back into my chair. What happened to all my training Bruce had instilled in me since I'd been taken in by him a few months ago? I knew what my brothers were thinking- that I'm fragile and going to break at any moment.

Maybe I am.

That's what worries me.

The table is awkwardly silent as everyone begins to eat again. I take the time to think about what's gone on. I replay the events in my head, Wally said he was here to apologize, but I got angry and then panicked when he tried. Now that I'd calmed down, I could tell he'd been sincere. I shouldn't hold it against him.

I look up from my food and directly at Wally.

"Look, Wally." I start, causing him to look up curiously. "I'm sorry for overreacting. Both times, I shouldn't have gotten angry or panicked like that."

"Don't be so hard on yourself, Sapph." Tim says beside me. "You've been through alot in these past two days." I see Dick nod out of the corner of my eye.

"But I shouldn't let it control me." I answer, sitting up a little straighter. "And just so you know, you're forgiven."

I see a smile spread across Wally's face.

"Great!" he smiled. "I brought you some flowers too, to show that I was sincere." His body blurs and whooshes out of the room and is back before I can blink, now holding a bouquet of purple and cream colored carnations. He hands them to me across the table. "Sorry for scaring you, also."

"Thanks." I answer as I take the carnations with a smile.

"Just like Wally to bring flowers." Dick laughs.

"I happen to like flowers, thank you." Wally retorts.

"Exactly."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

Their bickering was cut off by Alfred's entrance into the dining room. Upon seeing the carnations my hand, he turns to me.

"Would you like me to cut these and put them in a vase in your room, Miss Sapphire?"

"That would be wonderful, Alfred. Thank you." I smile as he takes them from me. He leaves to find a vase.

"So what did the principal say?" Tim asks, turning his attention to Bruce. I see Wally quirk an eyebrow, but look over at Bruce as well.

"You two get the rest of the week off to recuperate. That's two days." He says.

"And Tony?" Dick asks, jaw clenching.

"Juvenile Hall. Along with his friends."

"Good." Tim says. "Glad we won't be seeing them around school again."

"Definitely." I say as I stand, now that I've finished my food.

"Could someone please explain to me what's going on?" Wally asks, thoroughly confused.

"Go ahead. I'm going to go clean off these plates for Alfred before he gets back. He could use a little break." I say, grabbing everyone's plates. I see the corner of Bruce's mouth turn up in a discreet smile.

"Go for it." Tim laughs.

It only takes me a few minutes, but I'm glad I did it instead of having to listen to them recount yesterday's events. I load the last dish into the dishwasher and turn it on before heading back into the living room, where the guys are likely gathered.

"So that's why she was scared of me?" Wally asks and Tim nods. "Man, that Tony jerk is a creep."

"You got that right." I answer him as I drop onto the couch next to Bruce.

"And the kid Bruce was scaring?" he asks, wanting to know about Bruce's display a little while ago. I answer this one.

"Braden. He's my biological brother." I answer. "He tried to attack me."

"Why would he do that?" Wally asks, a little drawn back.

"Sapphire comes from an abusive family." Dick explains, not bothering to mask his anger at that fact.

I notice Wally's eyes flicker with some emotion that almost looks pained and he turns his head away slightly before turning back with a bright grin.

"Well, the Bat sure showed him." he laughs. I suddenly remember what Braden said and perk up in my seat.

"Guys, Braden said something you ought to know."

"What is it, Sapph?" Tim asks from across from me on the other couch, sitting next to Wally.

"He's working for the Joker." At the alarmed expressions from each of the men, I hold up a hand to show them I'm going to explain further. "He was drunk and let it spill. I got a little information out of him, but not much. He mentioned some different villians that were also teaming up with Joker- Star Sapphire and Volcano or something like that."

"Volcana." Tim corrects me. "One of Superman's villians."

"Whatever." I answer, waving it off. "Anyway, he said there are a 'bunch more'. I asked him why, but he didn't say anything more than that it was a scheme to get rid of the Justice League or something."

I watch as Wally puts a hand on his chin in thought and look over at Bruce, whose mind is doing double time.

"What are we gonna do?" Tim asks, looking at Bruce.

"Find out more."

* * *

After Wally leaves an hour or two later, I decide to head to the gym to practice my gymnastics. After breaking my wrist, I'm going to have to practice doing a lot of things one-handed. Though after fighting Mercy last night, I've learned that blocking with my cast discourages the opponent at lease a bit more- even if it hurts like crazy.

Luckily, it's black and slim, enough to keep me from hurting it with normal activities any worse than it's already hurt. Plus, it's hardly noticeable when I'm in uniform, and if I can probably mask the weakness from opponents if I practice carefully enough.

I mount the beam and practice, effectively clearing my mind. I need to get it back under control. Too many emotions would cause me to break down, and I can't afford to do that. I refuse to do that.

No matter what happens, I won't let them get the best of me.

I won't let them win.


	12. A Frosty Lead

_**Author's Note: So, for all of you who read my previous Justice League fanfic- "A Story of Faith", I'm working on the sequel- "Light Shines Through the Darkness", which has alot to do with Batman and I'm pretty sure I'm gonna include Sapphire in it, only older. :D We'll see though...**_

Hehe, I watched the Brave and the Bold last night and it made me laugh once again... GL: "Flash, don't heckle the supervillian!" :P

_**Disclaimer: I only own Sapphire/Dark Falcon, Braden, Sean, and Roscoe. The others are property of the DC Universe.**_

**Chapter 12- A Frosty Lead**

"Come on, Bruce." I plead as I follow him into the Batcave. "You can't keep me in the Cave forever. I want to patrol too."

"Your wrist is broken." he states, still keeping his eyes straight forward.

"So? I can do alot of things with one hand. I'll be fine and I'll patrol with Robin. And if any supervillians come along, I'll maintain my distance unless you need me." I try convincing him, knowing that would be a requirement anyway. He doesn't respond, so I add,

"Besides, my cast is like a bonus weapon and no one suspects it." This caused Tim to chuckle beside me. "Look, I'll even give a demonstration." I turn and take a swipe at my younger brother. He dodges quickly.

"Whoa, carrot-top. Let's not injure the hero." he says. I roll my eyes. "Hey, have you ever noticed how many red-heads we've been around lately?"

"Huh?"

"Well, there's you, Babs, Speedy, Wally, and Shayera. Plus Braden had some red in his hair."

"Only you would think of something like that, Tim." I respond with a laugh.

"Hey, what's that supposed to mean?"

"That you're a dork." I answer, then turn to Bruce. "So can I please go?"

"You two patrol the East side and I'll cover the West. Keep an eye out for any leads on the band of supervillians." he says, before promptly heading toward the Batmobile.

I smile as Tim and I follow him.

* * *

"Exactly what leads are we supposed to follow?" I ask Robin as he crouches beside me with his binoculars.

"Lucky guesses." he smirks. "Hey, isn't that your brother?"

I peer over the side of the building.

"That's _Braden_, Robin. Not my brother." I say through gritted teeth.

"Right. Sorry." he answers, realizing his mistake. Then turns his attention back to the guys in the alley. "Maybe if we follow them, we'll find some leads."

"What're we waiting here for?" I smirk. We follow as Braden and two other guys make their way through various alleyway. I'm careful about using my right arm and am not really bothered by it as we jump from roof to roof, not bothering to use the grapple guns.

"Here, let's tag Braden, just in case." I tell Robin. He nods as I pull out a small gun-like device. Aiming carefully, I pull the trigger and a bat-shaped tracer hits the back of Braden's shoe. If the Joker's a part of this, he'd be expecting a tracer on the neck, not the boot.

"Got a lock on it?" I ask.

"Yeah." Robin confirms, "Now let's follow him."

So we continue to follow the guys, keeping an eye out for any other criminal activity along the way. He heads to a few different bars and clubs, no doubt using a fake i.d. or something. While he's inside, we go back on patrol until he moves again. Pretty simple.

Braden and his friends finally end up going into an abandoned warehouse, we decide to go in after them quietly. Niether of us are sure why they're there, but we might as well check it out.

We sneak in through an upper window, careful to keep from making any sound as indication that we're here. We realize we're in an office, old and long ago left to rot. Cobwebs sway slightly at the breeze before I shut the window. The only thing indicating that this used to be an office is the dest in the corner that's missing a few drawers. The thick layer of dust indicates that no ones been in the room for years.

Tim moves to the door and greases the hinges before slowly pulling it open. We step out onto an old concrete walkway railed by bars with peeling yellow paint. We look down and see that the three guys are talking, waiting impatiently on someone apparently.

We vault onto some beams that are barely above our heads and step out on them, giving them a good view of the entire warehouse while still keeping to the shadows. Really, the building is barely two stories high and the acoustics were great, so we have no trouble hearing what they were saying as we crouch on one of the crossbeams.

"When is this guy gonna show, Sean?" Braden asks one of the guys who appears to be the leader.

"The guy on the phone said one a.m., Braden. Now shut up." Sean answers as he sits back on a crate.

"What if this is a trap?" the third guy asks as he scans the area.

"What are you talking about, Roscoe?" Braden asks exhasperatedly.

"Well remember that stuff you said you told your sister. What if she told the cops and they're setting us up?" he asks, sounding nervous.

Tim looks over at me and I shrug before turning back to listen to their conversation.

"Serously, Roscoe. The cops wouldn't take this much trouble to get the three of us. We're street trash. They ain't gonna bother us, 'less they catch us in the act." Sean tells him.

"Besides, Sapphire's a wuss. She isn't gonna snitch, too afraid of getting beat up again." Braden scoffs. "If 'daddy' and those idiot sons of his hadn't interfered, I'd have more money for the bars right now and she'd have remembered how to respect me." he growls. "With a few _reminders_ of course."

I ball my fist as he talks. That low-life creep. Even if he had given me those bruises he'd intended as reminders- I'd never respect him. Tim raises an eyebrow beside me and gives a reassuring smile. I turn back as a figure enters the opposite side of the warehouse.

"Mercy." I whisper. Tim nods as the brunette walks toward the three guys.

"Hello boys, I assume you received my employers call?" she says as she steps in front of them. Sean gives a low whistle as he eyes her and stands up. She ignores him.

"So what are we supposed to do?" he asks.

"Can't really tell you much information on that just yet. Mr. Luthor wants that to remain as top secret as possible for now. Just go to Metropolis in three days and you will be contacted when deemed appropriate." she says.

"Well where are we going to stay?" Roscoe asks.

"That's not my concern." she answers. "As you know, you will be assisting a number of supervillians- Lex Luthor, Joker, Star Sapphire, Poison Ivy, Volcana, Penguin, Copperhead, and Killer Frost. I would suggest you don't get on their bad sides. You are _very_ replaceable."

The boys nodded as they took in the information.

"Also-" she starts but is cut off by another.

"Well, well, well. What do we have here? Looks like we've got a rodent problem." The female voice says behind Robin and I. We spin around in surprise as the guys and Mercy look up, now realizing we've been listening.

"Look, it's Robin and Dark Falcon." I hear Roscoe say, sounding scared.

A few feet behind us is a woman with pale white skin and blue hair. Her eyes glinted as an amused smirk pulls up the corner of her mouth. Killer Frost.

"Don't worry, I'll exterminate for you!" she said as she thrust out a hand in our direction, ice shooting from it in our direction. We both jumped back in opposited directions. Robin jumped to the right and swung down onto one of the crates while I jumped up and grabbed a metal rod before swing up onto it with my left hand, pretending to use my right as well.

"Looks like the birds are gonna split. Which should I go for first?" she starts to turn toward me, but Robin grabs a Batarang and thrusts it at her. She ducks just in time.

"Nice try, kid, but you're going to regret that move." she says as she makes a walkway of ice for her to slide down toward him. I press my communicator before jumping down to help my brother.

"Umm, Batman." I say as I drop onto a crate, scanning the area. Robin is narrowly avoiding Frost's blasts and Mercy just sent Braden and the other two off, after apparently giving them whatever other information they needed to know.

I pull my grapple out of my utility belt and shoot it at a beam before swinging toward the two.

"Watch it, Freezer-burn! That's my brother you're threatening." I say as my feet make contact with her shoulder blades, and she flies off of her ice platform.

"What?" Batman's voice came over the communicator.

"Well, it's beginning to look like I won't be able to follow through on that promise I made in the cave." I say hesitantly as Killer Frost stands up, glowering at me.

"Oh, you're gonna pay for that." she yelled, icing her way toward me. Now that I'm on the ground, I do a series of back hand-springs until I feel something hit me and I fall on my back.

"Ugh!" I look up to see Mercy standing over me.

"Well, if it isn't the Falcon, come to pay me another visit." she smirked.

"I'm on my way. Who is it?" Batman's voice comes through again.

"Visit's over." Frost says from the top of her icy pathway. "We're about to have a bat icicle."

"Frost, you need to chill." Robin says before throwing an exploding batarang at her feet. It hits beside her and she smiles, thinking he's missed.

BLAM!  
Her ice crumbles and she goes flying across the warehouse. Shocked, Mercy looks toward her fallen comrade and I take that opportunity to thrust my legs over my head and into her stomach, throwing her backwards. I jump up.

"Killer Frost and Mercy." I say, now talking to Batman. "But I'm pretty sure we've got it handled."

I throw a punch at Mercy's face and she blocks it, while at the same time bringing up her left leg to kick me to the side. I bring my elbow down on her shin and see her grimace just before I punch her in the gut with my left hand.

I hear Robin yell something and turn to see that Killer Frost is back up and apparently caught him by surprise or something because he falls and I see that his foot is now encased in ice. Taking advantage of my distraction, Mercy punches me in the face and I stagger a few steps backward.

"Scratch that." I hear Robin say over his communicator. "We might need that backup after all."

I grab a few marble-looking devices out of my belt at chunk them at Killer Frost as she heads toward my brother, causing a thick smoke to engulf her. That won't keep her long.

Mercy makes another kick for my stomach, but I grab her ankle and twist it to the right, flipping her over and causing her to land on the floor.

I run over to my brother.

"You okay, Robin?" I ask as I kneel down beside him.

"Can't feel my foot, but other than that.." he answers, pulling a laser out from his utilility belt. I stand back up as the smoke around Frost fades and so does the sound of her coughing. I take a few steps to the left of my brother.

"Come on Frosty," I taunt her. "You can do better than that."

Disgruntled, she starts shooting projectiles of ice at me and I dodge them with ease. My problem comes when she finally gets a shot at me and freezes my left hand to a crossbeam. She starts to stalk toward me with a malicious grin on her face, but Mercy stops her.

"Come on, Frost. We've gotta go. The Bat'll be here any minute. It's not time to fight them." Killer Frost huffs for a moment. Then nods.

"Lemme just finish up." she says.

"Just don't kill 'em. Not yet." Mercy answers. "Lex'll probably want them to stay alive for now."

Frost sighs before she turns and shoots a blast at Robin, encasing his hands and other foot to the already frozen one. She then turns to me, freezing my legs from my knees down and my right hand, which was up next to the other. "That'll give the Bat something to do."

The two of them make a quick exit.

"I'm almost there." Batman's voice comes over the communicator ones again. "Status report."

"Just hangin' around." Robin answers, throwing a look up at me.

"Shut up, Robin." I groan, my shoulders feeling like they're going to pop out of socket from the weight of the ice around my legs. "Just hurry up and get here." I tell Batman.

About a moment later, Batman enters the building. I see one lens of his cowl widen as if raising an eyebrow before he hurries over to me, pulling out his laser to cut my hands out of the ice. I fall and he catches me before lowering me to the ground. I sigh as he starts to cut through what's left of the ice encasing my hands.

"This really sucks."


	13. Wayne Enterprises

_**Author's Note: Yay! Another chapter! Tim and Sapphire get themselves in trouble.... once again. Let me know what you think!**_

_**Disclaimer: I only own Sapphire/Dark Falcon.**_

**Chapter 13- Wayne Enterprises**

As Robin and I shiver in the Batmobile, the heat set on high, Batman checks out the warehouse for any evidence that might have been left behind.

"This sucks!" I say through chattering teeth, moving my hands and feet closer to the vents blasting hot air.

"That's the sixth time you've said that." Robin said, his own teeth chattering.

"Well it's still true. We keep getting our butts whooped every time we go up against these creeps. I'm sick and tired of it!" I say angrily.

"I know."

"Tomorrow we're practicing. All day." I inform him resolutely.

"What?!" he cries as Batman opens the top of the Batmobile and climbs in.

"What?" he asks, looking somewhat confused at Robin's outburst.

"Bruce will you work with us tomorrow. We're training _all day_." I direct the last part at Robin, who rolls his eyes. "We're tired of getting beat every time."

"Only until 10am. I have a meeting after that and have to stay at work until five." he says, before driving us home.

* * *

The next morning, I wake up and put on my sweatpants and pull my hair into a ponytail. I have a bruise on my left cheek, but don't bother covering it since I'm not going anywhere.

I meet Tim on my way down the stairs. He grumbles his hello.

"Oh stop being such a wuss. We need the training."

"I know that. I just didn't want to train all day!" he answers. "Especially with Bruce."

"He's only fighting with us until ten. You'll survive."

Tim and I both warm up for about thirty minutes by doing acrobatics until Bruce comes in to work on our hand to hand combat. Tim goes to the simulator while I fight with Bruce first. I spread my feet and ready myself for the onslaught from Bruce that was sure to come.

Moments later he's coming at me with a punch for his right arm and I dodge it, sending a kick at his stomach. He grabs that leg and pushes me with it, sending me to the floor. I immediately roll over onto my back as he jumps at me and catch him with a thrust from my legs that sends him flying over my head. I jump up and face him just in time to see him do a somersault and land on his feet. I run at him and bring my leg up in a kick to the face, which he blocks, but did get in a good punch to the stomach- even if it did hurt my hand. Curse Bruce for having painfully hard abs.

"Gah, Bruce. What did you eat? Bricks?" I ask with a smirk as I dodge a blow to the face, but he brings his leg around in a kick that hits my shoulder and sends me flying to the side. I bring my left arm down and use the momentum to push me into a cartwheel before I could fall. He runs at me, swinging but I do a back handspring to get out of his way and get him to lose some of his balance.

I try to look at my surroundings, realizing we're now between two chest high bars, remembering what Bruce is always saying about using your surroundings to aid you in battle. Just then, Bruce puts his hands on the bars and jumps up, thrusting his feet at my stomach and sending me flying across the room where I land with a thud on the ground.

I reach up for a bar that's attatched to the wall, with mirrors behind it, almost like a dance studio. I use it to pull me up and land in a crouch on top of it. Bruce runs at me but I push myself off the bar to do a flip over his hand and land behind him. I kick him in the back which throws him against the mirror.

"Why is that there anyways?" I ask as I back up to where I'm beneath the shorter of the uneven bars and Bruce turns around to look at me. "You doing ballet in your spare time, Bruce?" I hear a snort and then an 'Ow!' from Tim, who is still working at the similator and let my joke distract him.

Bruce runs toward me, but I jump up and grab the bar before spinning over it and straightening my legs to kick Bruce in the chest. What I wasn't expecting was for him to catch my legs and throw me to the ground.

I groan and don't bother getting up until he's standing over me with a smirk and reaching out his hand to help me up. I accept it as he lifts me to my feet.

"You're getting better." he tells me.

"Yeah," I say as I rub the back of my head. "Better at getting my butt whooped by the Bat."

"Better than getting it whooped by me." Tim points out as he finishes up his simulation.

"That's because no one could get whooped by the Boy Wonder."

"Hey they don't call you the Girl Wonder. Maybe there's a reason for that." He laughs and ducks as I throw a three pound weight at his head.

"Wanna try your luck, Tiny Tim?" I say, raising an eyebrow.

"Sorry, I've got training with Bruce." he answers. "Maybe next time." he says, sticking his tongue out at me.

"He's only here to 'protect' you until ten. After that- you're mine." I answer as I head to the simulation.

* * *

After Bruce left, Tim and I practiced for a bit before heading upstairs to eat lunch and try to talk Alfred out of making me help cook tonight. Normally, Alfred didn't want help in the kitchen, but he said that as a woman I needed to learn.

"Come on, Alfred." I plead as I swallow a bite from my tuna sandwich. I'm sitting on the counter, next to the sink, in the kitchen (much to Alfred's chagrin) and Tim's on the floor munching away to my left. "I hate cooking."

"It is a practical skill that every woman ought to learn." he said for the fifteenth time. "Besides you usually enjoy cooking with me."

"That's baking, Alfred. I like making cakes and cookies and stuff, not chicken and soup. I'll stick to desserts."

"I'll have you doing no such thing, Miss Sapphire." he chided as he put away a stack of plates.

"But Alfred, she'll give us all food poisoning if she cooks! I personally want to make it to thirty." Tim pipes in. I retaliate by shoving his head with my foot.

"Seriously, Alfred-" I start, but he cuts me off.

"No excuses. Be in the kitchen by five o'clock sharp and we'll have dinner on the table by six." he says before leaving.

"You were a big help." I say to Tim as I rinse off my plate.

"Just stating my concerns." he grins. I roll my eyes as he hands me his plate and I wash it off as well.

"So what are we gonna do until then?" I ask as we push the kitchen door open.

"I say we go bug Bruce. It's pretty fun." Tim suggested.

"Well, I haven't gotten to see Wayne Enterprises yet. It would be pretty fun to check it out."

"Say no more. I'll be your guide."

* * *

After taking a shower, we get in my car and I drive to Wayne Enterprises.

"Whoa. Massive building." I note as we get out of the car.

"I know! It's ginormous." he smiles before heading in the door. We are met by two security guards.

"Names?" one asks gruffly.

"Tim Drake and Sapphire Evans." Tim answers. The other guard raises an eyebrow.

"What are you two doing here? Kids aren't allowed on the premises."

"We're Bruce's kids." Tim answers. "I'm pretty sure we're allowed inside."

The first guard's eyes widens a little as he grabs his walkie-talkie.

"Confirmation on a Sapphire Evans and Tim Drake being allowed in the building."

"That's a positive." the voice crackled in return. "Their Mr. Wayne's children."

"Can I get a quick description?"

"Tim Drake. Age: Fourteen. Hair: Black. Eyes: Brown. Height: 5'.

"Sapphire Evans. Age: Sixteen. Hair: Red. Eyes: Blue. Height: 5' 2"."

Tim grumbles a little at the mention of his height before the guard nods and opens the second door for us to enter.

"Hmmm... Interesting security." I comment.

"Yeah, I have to go through that every time I visit. Kinda annoying." Tim answers.

"I'm sure." I answer.

We make our way to Bruce's office and talk to his secretary for a moment. She tells us that Bruce isn't due out of his meeting for another hour, but we're welcome to look around.

Tim and I enter Bruce's office and look around. Tim immediately figured out some way to make the chair spin while he did a one arm handstand on the back of it, he told me it was something he did every time he comes. I roll my eyes as he does a flip to land in the chair.

"Come on, Sapph, you've gotta try it!" he tells me excitedly.

"Yeah right, and risk breaking another wrist?" I ask, holding up the offending arm as I shrug off my jacket and put it on the coat rack. "I'll pass."

"So what are we supposed to do while we wait?" I ask a moment later as I look out the huge window at the people on the streets. "Glad I'm not afraid of heights." I mutter as I look back at my brother.

"Well, we could look around. You never know what knew stuff the old man's coming out with next." Tim suggests. I shrug and follow him out the door.

"Let our dad know we're still here." I tell his secretary. "We're just gonna look around."

"Sure thing, Miss Evans." she says as she goes back to typing.

We wander around for a little while before coming up on the Weapons Development wing. I'm a little hesistant to go in at first, but Tim assures me we won't get in trouble, so I follow him. Of course, I ought to remember that I'm talking to a troublemaker, but I don't and continue after him.

"Cool!" Tim exclaims as he comes up on a pair of white arm blasters.

"What are those? Some type of new gun?" I ask as Tim picks one up.

"Naw, Bruce doesn't do guns. We both know that." I nod in response. "Look, it says on that screen right there. They're for building." I look over at the screen as he continues to talk. "This one is for heat and this one's cold, they use it to fuse metal."

I squint at the screen for a moment as I read the overview of their use.

"And you can switch what it does for certain uses. That's pretty-" I start, but notice Tim has put on the blasters. "Tim, take those off!"

"Come on, Sapph. It's not gonna hurt anything!"

"Take them off! You don't know how to use them! They could go..."

POW!

"...off." I say dismally as Tim's jaw drops. There is now a huge hole in the wall, inches away from a huge computer database.

"Oh we are so screwed! Bruce is gonna kill us!" Tim says as he hurriedly takes off the blasters and puts them back where they were.

"This is officially the worst week ever." I say as I put my face in my hands and shake my head.

"You have no idea." a voice says behind us and I feel something wrap itself around my leg. I look down to see what it is.

Ivy.


	14. Alot of Craziness

_**Author's Note: This was a fun chapter and I hope you enjoy it too. Let me know what you think.**_

_**Disclaimer: Sapphire/Dark Falcon is mine. The others are property of DC Comics. Though I would totally claim Tim if I could- he rocks!**_

**Chapter 14- Alot of Craziness**

I struggle to pull my leg away from the ivy but it continues to crawl up my leg and does the same to Tim at an alarmingly fast rate. We both spin around and see that Poison Ivy and Star Sapphire are only a few yards away.

Tim grabs the heat blaster and shoots the two vines and the parts wrapping around our legs shrivel and drop.

"Why if it isn't the two youngest Waynes." Ivy points out with a snarl at our destruction of her plant. Tim tosses me the cold blaster and I'm about to catch it when both it and Tim's are engulfed in a purple glow.

"These toys are not for children." Star Sapphire says as she brings them back to her with her purple beam. "But, I do believe we've found our tickets for getting out of here." she grins.

"I'll have to take a rain check on that one." I answer and make a dash to the left, grabbing Tim's hand as I do. We run behind a large machine and Tim suggests we split up and get out as quickly as possible to suit up. I nod and run in one direction while he runs in the other.

I dash behind a computer drive as I hear Star Sapphire and Poison Ivy run in hot pursuit of us.

_Maybe there's some kind of alarm system I can set off. _I think, before ducking as Poison Ivy makes her appearance nearby.

"Come on out, Miss Wayne." Ivy's voice echoes off the metal casing of the technology surrounding her. "We're not going to hurt you or your brother. If you cooperate." She coos. Like I'm going to believe that.

Finally I find a fire alarm and reach up and pull it down. Sirens begin to blare and the sprinklers overhead turn on in response. Ivy snarls as she catches sight of me and I stand up to sprint in the other direction, but her ivy is around me before I can get away.

Struggling, I grit my teeth as she calls for Star Sapphire to hurry up and catch 'the other kid' and get the weapons.

So that's what they're here for. Weapons.

Star Sapphire flies over with Tim struggling angrily in her violet beam as the water turns off.

"Spoiled brats." she says, rolling her eyes as she passes Tim off to Ivy who in turn has her vines wrap around him as well. "Looks like it's time to go."

I continue to struggle against the plants restraining my wrists and ankles as a few guards came running in. Star shoots a beam out of her tiara headress thing and hits one of the guards, I see the other one call for help on his radio.

"Looks like you're running out of time." I smirk. Ivy turns around angrily and causes the ivy to tighten around my arms and legs, I gasp in pain as a crackling noise becomes indication that the vine around my right wrist has started to splinter the cast.

"Aww. Miss Wayne's been wounded. Let me kiss it and make it all better."

"I'll pass." I answer with gritted teeth as the pressure causes some of the bits of the cast to cut into my arm.

She raises an eyebrow and opens her mouth to reply, but instead turns around as Bruce and a bunch of policemen run in. Bruce stops in midstep as he realizes we're in their grasp and I see Tim give a weak smile.

"Why if it isn't Mr. Wayne himself." Star Sapphire says as her beam picks up their stockpile of weapons. "If you'll excuse us, we'll have to be going now. We'll be sure to return your little darlings safe and sound, if you don't give us any trouble."

"Otherwise, your offspring might get a little.... complicated." Poison Ivy smirks as she throws Tim and I against the far wall. Not expecting that, we hit it with a dull thud as she blows a handful of seeds at us. They emit some type of gas as they hit all around us and we start to cough, struggling for air as the two get away.

* * *

I am going to tell you the truth right now and let you know I was really pissed as I took deep breaths through the oxygen mask. Bruce had been quick to get us to some oxygen machines, knowing that the gas was likely poisonous, and after being checked out by the medics and giving our statements to the police they finally left us alone.

We keep our oxygen masks on as Tim and I sit side by side on Bruce's desk.

"What happened back there?" he asks.

"You wanna take this?" I ask Tim, raising an eyebrow.

Grimacing, Tim proceeds in explaining to Bruce what happened, skimming past his 'blaster malfunction' as quickly as possible.

As soon as he finishes he asks, "So what all did they steal?"

"We don't know yet. They're running an analysis right now. They should be calling me at the manor when it's all finished." he says, picking up the phone. "I'll call Alfred to take you two home."

"It's fine, Bruce." I say as I take off my mask and turn off the machine. "I brought my car. I'll drive us home."

"Oh no you won't." he says as he holds out his hand. "Keys."

I hear Tim gulp audibly.

"But-"

"You're in no condition to be driving." he says. "Keys." I reluctantly hand over the keys to my car as Tim and I follow Bruce out to the car.

"Nice knowing ya, Sapph." Tim whispers.

* * *

"Stop sign. Stop sign! STOP SIGN!!" I yell as Bruce hits the brakes, making the tires squeal in protest. I'm pretty sure my stomach's screaming in protest as well. "The Batmobile may be able to withstand any wreck, but my car won't!"

"We're gonna die. We're gonna die. We're gonna die." Tim is chanting in the backseat, eyes wide as Bruce hits the gas one more time.

"Slow down, Bruce! It's not a race! The speed limit is thirty!" I yell as he swerves around a car in front of us.  
"Would you two calm down. I'm handling this." he growls.

"We're gonna die. We're gonna die. We're gonna die."

I let out a scream as he speeds through a red light and narrowly misses an oncoming semi.

"Pull over, Bruce! I can drive better than this!"

"No. You don't know how that gas could still effect you." He states calmly, eyes narrowed at the road before him.

"I'd rather die by poisoning than being thrown from the car because you don't know how to drive!"

"We're gonna die. We're gonna die. We're gonna die."

I check my seat belt once again as I grit my teeth. Only five minutes to the manor and at this rate, we'll get there in two. If we get there at all.

"We're gonna die. We're gonna die. We're gonna die."

My left hand is braced against the dashboard and right arm in my lap after careful instructions from Bruce not to move it in case it hurts the fracture more. I glance back to see that Tim's hands are tightly gripping the handle above his window and the one on his door so hard that his knuckles are white.

"We're gonna die. We're gonna die. We're gonna die." he continues to chant as Bruce swerves around another car which proceeds to honk profusely at us.

"This is not the Batmobile, Bruce!" I say as we swerve to avoid an oncoming car. "And I'm surprised we haven't been pulled over yet."

"We're almost home, Sapphire." he grumbles, obviously growing tired of our criticism of his driving. I glance at the clock- 6:02. Looks like I'll have to answer to Alfred when we get home for not making dinner. At least I have a good excuse.

"Do you even have a driver's license?" Tim asks from the backseat.

"Quiet." Bruce growls, effectively silencing us.

We finally make it to the manor a minute later and surprisingly in one piece.

"Land!" Tim yells as he jumps from the car and falls to his knees in the grass.

I slowly get out of the car, still feeling nauseated. Bruce marches into the house after handing me the keys and I can't help but smirk. The Bat's pride has been wounded by his own children.

Tim comes around and asks about my wrist.

"It'll be fine, but I'm not sure Bruce's pride will be." I chuckle as we head inside.

"Miss Sapphire, Master Timothy, you were supposed be home over an hour ago." Alfred says as we walk in.  
"Sorry, Alfred. I guess it's too late to help out?" I ask, somewhat timidly. I didn't want to cook, but I do feel bad about leaving him hanging like that.

"Yes. Dinner's on the table right now." he said, eyebrow raised and looking very stern. Alfred didn't need the scary factor of the Bat like Bruce did, he commanded authority. Guess that's where Bruce learned it.

Tim slinks off toward the dining room and I scowl at his retreating figure before looking back at Alfred.

"I'm really sorry, Alfred." I apologize again as I follow him into the dining room. "But before I eat, could you fix up my arm, please?" I ask, lifting up my wrist for him to inspect.

"My word, Miss Sapphire. Why didn't you tell me sooner? What happened?" He said as he motioned for me to follow him into the Batcave, where he kept his medical equipment. I hopped on to the examination table and held out my arm as he used the special saw to take off the cast.

"Poison Ivy and Star Sapphire attacked Wayne Enterprises. Guess who they tried to take as hostages." I explain. "Well, they got away. No thanks to us."

"Well, you could hardly be expected to have thwarted their plans as yourselves." he says as he tsks removes the cast and has to pull a few pieces that were stuck into my flesh.

"I know, Alfred. It's just that we keep getting whooped by them. First Joker when he robbed the bank a while back, then the other night when whoever it was clobbered me from behind when I was fighting Mercy, then when Tim and I fought Mercy and Killer Frost."

Alfred wraps my arm in gauze after washing it off gently with a rag and wets the black cloth that will harden and become the outside of my cast and begins wrapping it around my wrist.

"Crime fighting is a serious business, Miss Sapphire, and a very difficult one. It consists of a series of wins and loses, just like any other practice." he reminds me as he cuts the extra gauze away from my arm. "You have to persevere, my dear, because these metahumans won't be easy to defeat like the hooligans on the streets whose only advantage is access to a gun. But that doesn't mean you can't defeat them. It just means it'll be harder."

I smile as Alfred finishes up and I take his words to heart. He always knows how to help.

"Now, your food's getting cold. Hurry upstairs now, Miss Sapphire." he says. "And tomorrow you'll be helping with dinner."

I jump down and wrap my arms tightly around my surrogate grandfather and look up at him.

"Thanks Alfred. You're the best."

My stomach grumbles and I run upstairs with a smile. No matter how many times I get defeated, I'll never stop fighting.


	15. Wally Panics

_**Author's Note: So after this chapter, the writing of the story is going to change a little, just so you're warned. All the parts with Sapphire will be from a first person POV, but for the remainder of the story, I'll need to have parts where we see conversations and things that go on that she won't be privy to. Those will be written from a third person point of view.**_

_**Disclaimer: You know who's mine and who isn't. These disclaimers are getting redundant.**_

**Chapter 15- Wally Panics**

We were halfway through our meal when we heard banging on the front door. More like pounding. Alfred went to find out who it was and seconds later, Wally was standing in the dining room, wild-eyed and looking very panicked.

"Ohmygosh! Ohmygosh! Ohmygosh! He'sgone,BatsandIdon'tknowwhereheisandI'mpanicking. Hegotattacked! HecouldbedeadorhurtandIwasn'ttheretohelphim." he said, running his hands through his wild red hair. "IrisishystericalandI'mprettyclosetogettinghystericalmyself. Whywasn'tIthere? Stupidmonitorduty,Ishouldhavebeentheretohelphim. Whyddidn'thecontactmeonhiscommunicator? Hedidn'ttellmehewasfightingthemandIcouldhavehelped."

"Calm down, Wally." Bruce said, brow furrowing at the young hero's state. "Tell us who's missing.

"Bart!" he practically yelled as he flopped into the chair.

"Tell us what happened." he answered calmly.

"I don't know what happened!" he said, burying his face in his hands. "His mom, my aunt Iris, said he went out as Kid Flash right before school and he didn't come back. So she called me and I checked around. Some of the civilians said he was seen fighting Shade and Volcana, but got knocked out and they took him with him."

At the last bit, mine and Tim's eyes got wide. So Kid Flash had gotten kidnapped? And by this new band of supervillians too? Volcana was a member of it.

"This has something to do with destroying the Justice League." Bruce said as he stood and walked out of the room. We all stood and followed him, Wally still mumbling to himself about his cousin being in danger.

"How old is he?" I ask, trying to calm the fellow redhead down.

"Fifteen." he answered sullenly.

"How long has he been Kid Flash?" I ask.

"Two years. His dad was Flash before me and I was Kid Flash until he retired and I took up his mantle. I started training Bart when he got about the same age I was when I started. He's a good kid. Pretty reckless, but he means well."

"Reckless like you?" I ask with a smirk.

"Naw. I just like to crack jokes and pull pranks, but I do think before I do stuff- contrary to popular belief. When you've got superspeed you have alot of time to think, believe me, it just makes us impatient. Bart likes to just rush into things though, which is why he's earned the nickname of Impulse."

"Oh."

"Well maybe after all of this is over, we can have him over sometime." Tim suggests.

"I'm sure he'd like that."

By now, we've followed Bruce into the Batcave and stood behind him as he typed into the computer.

"This doesn't make sense." I say. "Why would they take Kid Flash? He's not even a member of the Justice League."

"I don't know." Bruce answers. "But there has to be some connection between him and everything else we already know."

We're all silent for a moment.

"Tim, Sapphire, you two need to find Braden again. Question him on what he knows about any of this. Wally, go to Central City and see if you can get any more information from the civilians, police, and the crime scene. I'll go to the Watchtower and brief the other founding members on what's going on." We all nodded seeing that his plan made sense. "Take the Batmobile, Sapphire. And Wally, let Alfred know we've left."

"Sweet!" I said as Tim and I headed toward the changing stations.

"Sure thing!" Wally answered. "Bye, Tim. Bye, Sapphire. Bye, Bruce. Thanks for the help!" And he was gone in a blur.

"Sapphire, make sure you keep your voice low the entire time and try not to beat on your brother unless you have to." he told me as I closed the little curtain and slippped into my costume. "Both of you, contact me if you have any trouble. You know how to patch into the Justice League comm. links if you need to."

I come out and start to french braid my hair.  
"Got it. Let's just hope he gives me a reason to knock him out." I say as I pin the braid into a bun.

"Sapphire..." he warns.

"I know. Just kidding. Kinda...." I say, flashing a smile. "I'll behave."

"Good." He said as he headed in to change into the Batsuit.

I pulled up Braden's tracer on the Batcomputer and had the information download into the Batmobile's computer files so we'd be able to find his house easily and jump into the front seat. Robin headed over as Batman stepped out and pressed his comm. link.

"Transport for one."

He was gone in a flash of blue as Robin hopped in.

"You ready to find Braden, Sapph?"

"Yeah, let's go."

* * *

"Gahh! My eardrums are forever ruined!" Robin says as the Batmobile pulls to a stop and the hood slides open.

"Oh stop complaining. I only screamed a few times."

"Yeah, loud enough to shatter glass." he answers. I roll my eyes as I shoot my grapple gun.

"Now, where does the creep live again?" I ask as I hit the button for it to pull me up and Robin does the same with his. The Batmobile's roof shuts and I put my keys for it in my utility belt.

"This way." he says. We jump across a few rooftops and end up across from an apartment complex. "Third window from the left. Second floor from the top."

We crouch down by the window and I pull out some nightvision binoculars and Tim does the same. Luckily, the curtain's open. We look through them and see Sean, Roscoe, and Braden all sitting on the couch in front of a TV, watching some show. The lamp in the opposite corner is on, but that's the only light in the room.

Standing we both shoot our grapples once again and they wrap around the railing. We both jump and land on the balcony outside. I slide the glass door open and we both slip in, completely unnoticed by the three couch potatoes.

I smirk as I pull out a batarang and send it flying into the side of the TV, causing it to shut off and the guys to jump up in surprise. We're standing to the left of the couch and they turn to face us.

"Programming's been cancelled, boys." I say, still smirking and placing a hand on my hip.

"Wh-what are you doing here?" Roscoe asks.

"We'll give you three guesses." Robin says beside me.

"Look. We know you work with the escaped supervillians. You know- Frost, Mercy, Star Sapphire, Shade... Kid Flash has been kidnapped by them and we're here to collect information." I tell them. "I suggest you cooperate."

"What makes you think we know where he is?" Braden says.

"Look-" I start, stepping forward, but Robin grabs my arm and cuts me off.

"We're not expecting them to have told you that much." Robin explains. "We just want whatever information you do have."

"Now you know we can't tell you that." Sean says, folding his arms over his chest as he eyes me.

"Though, I might be tempted to spill a little if you make it worth my while." he says, stepping forward with a grin. He reaches out to touch my face, but Robin grabs his arm.

"Back off." he hisses.

"What are you? Like twelve?" Sean says as he jerks his arm away.

"Looks like we get to do this the hard way." Robin says, making me smile. Robin punches Sean's jaw, causing him to fall back as I drop to a crouch and swing out my leg, knocking Braden's legs out from under him.

We fight for about a minute before we've got Braden and Sean in cuffs. I grab Roscoe's collar and shove him against the wall, guessing he'll be the easiest to get information from. I get about two inches from his face.

"Tell us what you know." I growl. Roscoe's eyes get wide as he looks from me to Robin.

"I'd answer her, tough guy."

"I-I know....that...." he stutters. "That our plan worked." he says a creepy grin spreading across his face.

I let go of him, slightly taken aback at the transformation from being incredibly scared to very confident that has just taken place on this guy's face. I hear a surprised cry from Robin and turn around to see Poison Ivy has him in her clutches.  
"Pucker up, sunshine." she says as she grabs his face.

"He's a little young for you, don't you think?" I say as I throw a batarang at her. A vine moves and deflects it before it can hit her.

"You've got problems of your own, Falcon." she says. Before I can even register what she says, something wraps around my entire body and I can't move. Something hisses in my ear.

"He'ssss not the only one getting a kissss tonight." Copperhead says in my ear. My eyes bug out under my mask as I take a deep breath to keep from panicking. If I can only reach my belt.

"Leave her alone!" Robin says, still struggling against Poison Ivy. She plants a kiss on his cheek and his head lolls to the side.

"Robin!" I yell, forgetting my predicament for a moment.

I then feel Copperhead hiss against my neck.

"Sssssay goodnight, Falcon." I feel pain shoot into me as his fangs pierce my neck and I drop limply to the floor. I fight the urge to close my eyes. I feel so heavy I can hardly move my body and I'm sweating profusely. I hit my communicator with great difficulty as I barely see Copperhead walk over to Ivy and say something.

"Batman." I whisper, struggling to speak through gasps. "Ivy.... Copperhead... bite...."

"Falcon!" I hear Batman's gruff voice sounding slightly panicked over the communicator. "Robin! Where are you? What's wrong?"

"Venom....t-taking over..." I say, fighting the toxin that's pumping through my blood stream now. "Robin and....Falcon...down." The darkness starts taking over my vision as I struggle to breathe. "Ambushed..."

Then everything around me fades and goes black.


	16. What Now?

_**Author's Note: It's pretty short, but I liked where it cut off, so I'm uploading it anyway. Please review and tell me what you think- It inspires me to write more. So don't hold back, the more reviews the more excited I get to write more.**_

_**Disclaimer: Sappire/Dark Falcon is the only character that belongs to me.**_

**Chapter 16- What Now?**

"But why would they take Kid Flash?" Wonder Woman wondered as soon as Batman had briefed them on his disappearance and what they were already doing about it.

"To get at Wally?" GL suggested.

"Yeah, like using him as bait or something." Shayera added.

"Or like his other weakness." Superman chimed in. "But why Flash's.

"Maybe it's not just Kid Flash." J'onn told them.

"But he was just the first target." Batman said as realization dawned on him. The lenses of his cowl grew wide. "Oh no." he said, mostly to himself. The other five turned to him, curiosity prevalent in their gazes.

No sooner had he uttered the words when a voice crackled over his communicator.

"Batman." Sapphire's voice spoke in a hoarse whisper between gasps. "Ivy... Copperhead... bite..."

"Falcon! Robin!" He yelled, holding his hand to his ear. "Where are you? What's wrong?"

The other founding members exchanged worried glances as Batman stood abruptly.

"Venom....t-taking over... Robin and... Falcon... down." He turned and dashed from the room. Leaving the five bewildered members staring worriedly at each other. "Ambushed..."

"Dark Falcon!" he yelled into his communicator as he shoved past the many leaguers crowding the hallways that were giving him odd looks. "Stay awake! Don't let the venom take over!"

He practically flew down the crowded corridors of the Watchtower, knocking aside any of the heroes who were stupid enough to stand in his way. Funny how he was one of the only Leaguers who had no powers, yet he still stirred up the most fear.

Copperhead and Poison Ivy had attacked his kids. They were about to learn the meaning of fear.

He reached the control deck and punched in his access code, then Sapphire and Tim's. He'd made access codes for tracking them from the Watchtower in case it were ever needed. He'd done the same with Dick's and he was thankful he'd had the foresight to do such.

"What's wrong, Batman?" Superman asked as he approached the Bat typing away madly at the keys. He laid a hand on the man's shoulder but it was shrugged off as Batman sprinted toward the transporters.  
"Transport me to the coordinates on the screen." he told the technician.

"Me too." Superman said as he stood on another circle.

The flash of blue engulfed both heroes and they were suddenly in the middle of a trashed apartment. He noted the batarang in the TV and another lying on the floor.

"What happened here?" Superman asked, blue eyes scanning the room for any sign of an intruder. Something caught Batman's eye and he bent down to scoop up two small disks. He held out his hand so Superman could see the communicators.

"They have my kids." he growled as he closed his hand into a fist again.

* * *

Batman sat irately in the chair of the conference room, hand still balled up in a fist. How dare that bald, cowardly, sorry excuse for a villian even think to attack children?

He'd warned Superman to keep Kara under lock and key until this had blown over. They couldn't afford for this new band of villians to get more leverage, however underhanded it may be.

"Flash." he growled, looking over at his younger counterpart. The redhead looked up and Batman raised an eyebrow at his foot.

Flash looked down to see his foot had been tapping so nervously that the floor beneath him was getting jello-y, he immediately stopped the offending action.

Bart was gone. His cousin had been kidnapped, and because he'd freaked out- so had Tim and Sapphire. The guilt was eating him up.

Why hadn't he gone to the League first? Why had he gone to Bruce? It was the first person he'd thought to turn to, knowing that someone would be home. Plus it had only been a few days since he'd last been there. If only he could go back....

Why hadn't this blasted speed come with a rewind button?!

Then maybe they could get all three kids back on the Watchtower.

Shayera reached over and placed a hand on his shoulder, massaging it gently. She knew his emotions better than most and always knew how to make him feel better, even if only a little bit. Gues that's what big sisters are for.

"What do we do?" Wonder Woman asked, her sapphire blue eyes flaming with anger. "These cowards hide and use little children as shields. Do we just wait for them to make a move or take another?"

"What else can we do?" J'onn asked. "We have no indication of what their next move will be."

"All that we know is that their next move was Metropolis, and when they realize Kara's not there- they'll give that up too." Superman commented. He sighed as he put his head in his hand and massaged his temple. "Looks like we've hit a wall."

Batman stood and made his way to the door.

"Where are you going, Batman?" Superman asked, looking up from the table curiously.

"To the Manor." he answered, turning back to face them. "I need to see if I can come up with any leads. Beside, don't you think Nightwing needs to know his brother and sister have been kidnapped?"

* * *

"Out of all the founding members of the Justice League, doesn't anyone else think it's incredibly odd that Batman is the only one who has kids? And three of them at that?" Booster Gold was asking Enlongated Man as Flash walked by. "I mean, is anyone less qualified to have kids?" he scoffed.

"Shut up, Booster." Wally said disapprovingly.

"What? He's the Batman. How could he possibly raise kids?" Booster retorted, crossing his arms.

Wally turned around, anger evident in his green eyes that so rarely held the emotion.

"I'd watch what I say if I were you. You don't know those kids' pasts." He said, getting in Booster's face. "You think you could do any better fathering them? Batman gives those kids what they need- a father, a home, love. The very things they were deprived of somehow or another. Most kids only wish they had the opportunity to have a father like him!"

He turned away, leaving Enlongated Man and Booster Gold with mouths gaping open as he stormed from the room.

"Like me." he whispered, feeling a tear slide down his face. He wiped it away before it could trickle into view and headed toward the transporters. He had to find some way to help all three teens. He felt it was his fault that they were in danger and by God, he was going to get them out of it.


	17. Kidnapped

_**Author's Note: So after much debate (with myself of course), I finally decided that I could salvage this story rather than rewrite it. From now on, it will be fully third person, though, the first person plot is too confusing and I enjoy third person much more.**_

_**Well since I'm up rather late with annoying acid reflux keeping me up, I decided that I'd update this story. I'm sure y'all will be glad to know what's going on after all this time! It's incredibly short, but I'm sure y'all will understand!**_

_**Disclaimer: Sapphire is the only one that I can claim, sadly.**_

**Chapter 17- Kidnapped**

_"I can't believe that I'm here in this place again_

_How did I manage to mess up one more time?_

_This pattern seems to be the story of my life_

_Should have learned this lesson by the thousandth time_

_'Cause I promise myself I wouldn't fall  
But here I'm falling_

_I guess I'm not as strong as I thought"_

_-On My Own BarlowGirl_

Sapphire woke with someone nudging her shoulder.

"Sapph? Sapph, wake up." Tim's voice broke through her dreamless sleep. She returned to consciousness with a throbbing headache. She sat up slowly, rubbing her head with one hand as she pushed up with the other.

"Where are we?" she asked.

"Somewhere Batproof." he muttered in response.

Sapphire felt for her utility belt, only to find they'd removed it from her ear. Glancing around, she saw that she was in a room about the size of the average bedroom.

"Whoever it was did their research." a voice said near them.

Both heads turned to their right to find a boy in a costume. He had a yellow shirt, domino mask, and boots, with red leggings,gloves and Flash insignia. He had a good crop of reddish-blonde hair sticking out of the top of his head, as well.

"Kid Flash, I presume?" Sapphire asked, still rubbing her temples.

"You got it. How'dya know?"

"Besides the Flash insignia?" Tim asked sarcastically.

"We were talking to Flash right before you left. He was terribly worried about you." Sapphire said, elbowing her brother for his rudeness.

Kid Flash sat down and only then did the two youngest members of the Batclan notice that the floor of his cell was a bright purplish color, a bit brighter than a black light.

"What is that?" Tim asked.

"I'm guessing it's a gravity beam put on low. Flash told me that during the Thanagarian Invasion, they put him in a cell with one of these, but it was on so strong that he was face flat on the floor- which is what I imagine it would do to the two of you. For me, though, it just makes me as slow as normal person, which is seriously annoying." he responded quickly.

"Have you learned anything since you've been here?" Sapphire asked quickly.

"Only that Luthor's head of all this. Not that it's any surprise." Kid Flash responded.

"I can't believe they got the drop on us again." Sapphire said, directing this remark at Tim. "Some hero I turned out to be." she muttered the last part to herself, but Tim heard her and shook his head.

"You're a great hero, Falcon, and we're going to be okay. If we can't get out of here on our own, Dad'll get us out and it'll end the way it always does- with the bad guys behind bars."

Sapphire smiled at that and laid back down for some much needed sleep.

* * *

Dick stepped out of his first college class for the day as he heard three beeps on his communicator go off in his ear. Luckily, Bruce had installed the feature where he could turn it off except for direct calls from the clan in case of emergencies. He'd had it that way all last night, one of his rare nights off, and kept it that way during classes.

He'd just walked into his first when he heard the beeps and made up a quick and very lame excuse to get himself out of the classroom. Quickly, he pressed the disc in his ear as when he was outside and safely out of earshot from any prying people.

"What's going on? I'm kinda busy." Dick said with a bit of irritation seeping into his voice. Instead of hearing the voices he normally heard on these types of calls, either Sapph's or Tim's, he heard Bruce's.

"Dick."

"What is it?"

"It's Sapphire and Tim. They've been kidnapped."

"Kidnapped?!" Dick yelled, running toward his motorcycle, ready to head to Gotham. "Wayne-haters or the villians?"

"The latter. They've been taken, along with Kid Flash, by the new group headed up by Luthor. The same whose members have been facing off with the two for the past few days.

Dick cursed loudly as he revved the engine of his bike.

"I'll be at the Manor in half an hour."

* * *

Batman hardly noticed the blue light in the back of the cave as he searched for leads on the Batcomputer. His cowl was hanging off the back of his costume and his hair ruffled from rubbing his head in annoyance and worry so many times.

"What do you want, Wally?" he asked, not tearing his eyes away from the computer.

Flash pulled off his own cowl and walked up beside the other JL Founding Member, placing a hand on the man's shoulder.

"I'm here to help. I can't help but feel responsible for Sapphire and Tim getting taken as well."

"Well it's not your fault." was Bruce's abrupt response.

"Yeah, well I'm helping anyway. You're stuck with me." Wally responded stubbornly and the unmasked Bat nodded, understanding the drive that made him think that way. "What can I do to help?"

After hours of debate and going over all the information they could muster, the two finally decided that they would just have to set a trap. Kara would be the bait. If they were after her next, it wouldn't be much of an issue. They would just have to nab one of the villians trying to nab her and they'd have all the information they needed at their disposal.

Now they just had to break the news to Superman.


	18. The Trap is Set

_**Author's Note: Here is where Faith (from my other story- A Story of Faith) comes in. She'll be mostly background in this story, but we needed to see a bit of her so that we could make Bat for Dad and Birds for Brothers more of a prequel for A Light in the Darkness. I wanted both girls present.**_

_**Disclaimer: I'm the proud owner of both Sapphire and Faith. Sadly, I can't claim any of the other characters that pop up in this chapter- though I do have a Superman action figure! Does that count? And why can't I have a cooler one like the Flash?**_

**Chapter 18- The Trap is Set**

"No."

Superman's immediate objection to using Supergirl as bait wasn't totally unexpected, but they hadn't even explained the plan in the slightest. Supes had interrupted before the name 'Kara' had fully escaped Batman's lips.

It actually surprised Bruce for a moment that the Boy Scout would shoot down a plan so quickly. But it was understandable that he would object- no one wanted their loved ones in danger.

"Let me finish." Batman responded quickly. "It would be just like any other mission for her. All she'd have to do is keep patrol in Metropolis as usual, and of course she'd know what was going on. Meanwhile, the rest of us would be nearby in case she needed backup or they made an attempt to get her. In both Kid Flash and Robin and Dark Falcon's cases, they grabbed them when they were alone."

"And she wouldn't be in that danger, because we'd be there." Flash added. His eyes were drooping from the late night he'd spent with Bats, but he knew that even if he'd been home he wouldn't have slept. His worry for Bart was growing with each passing hour and it was eating him up.

"Their plan does make sense." Wonder Woman pointed out softly.

"No, it's too dangerous. I won't put her into such a risky situation." Superman held his ground, his brotherly concern outweighing his common sense.

"How risky could it be if we're all there, ready to back her up?" GL quipped. "Besides, I can't see her disagreeing with the idea."

"Do you have a better plan?" Batman challenged.

"No," Superman answered with a bit more timidity in his voice. "I just don't see how putting another child in danger will solve anything."

"So you'll just leave the three that are already kidnapped up the river?" Shayera asked, getting tired of this debate already. "This is the only option that makes any sense."

"It's not _your_ cousin." he answered, bolstering himself again.

"No, it's mine." Flash countered, getting angry- an emotion that seemed to come more easily as of late. That alone scared him to no end- his dad was angry too... Flash shook himself mentally continued. "And it's Batman's daughter and son. Kara's got our protection, the others only have each other now and us, if we choose to help."

Superman leaned back in his chair, his face drooping as he realized he was defeated. Relunctantly, he consented to Supergirl's being a part of the plan, but "only if she agrees".

* * *

After the meeting was called to an end, Flash sped his way over to the cafeteria. Feeling quite drained, he grabbed about ten hotdogs and five iced mochas, setting all precariously on his tray and walked as slowly as he could force himself toward an empty table.

He quickly gobbled up his meal. Now feeling very energized, he realized he needed to find Supergirl and let her know that she was going to be bait. Joy.

He was throwing his trash away when he heard the unmistakeable squeal of said hero down the hall.

"Ahh! I didn't know you were back!" she yelled with delight.

Wally wracked his brain for the date and who should be back around now- Faith!

Suddenly excited, he dashed for the direction of the scream and materialized in front of the two squealing friends.

"I can tell I'm missed." Faith laughed and he could almost see her brown eyes sparkling behind her mask.

Her costume had changed alot since her first mission. Instead of a long-sleeved white shirt, she wore a short-sleeved blue shirt with the purple cross on the left side of her chest. She wore fingerless blue gloves that reached just past her elbows and matching blue boots. The skirt and mask stayed the same, though, both vibrant purple to match the cross.

She especially liked the gloves because they hid the electrical burns that spiralled around her arms. They had faded to a light pink now, but when she wasn't in costume, she still had to put makeup on them to hide it- a special brand that Batman had produced that couldn't be washed off with water.

The burning of her neck had healed much better, though, leaving barely a trace of the fiery hands that had caused it.

"The question is, did you miss me?" Wally quipped.

Faith let a little squeal escape her lips as she hugged the speedster, her smile wide.

"How was your vacation?" Kara asked. "Did you and Ollie enjoy your trip to New York?"

"Yes, it was wonderful. It was really hectic though, we were practically running from one thing to another. Gotta keep up appearances, though." she laughed. "I'm glad to be home though, and ready to get back to work protecting the world." she stated the last part dramatically, putting her fists on her hips in a very Superman-like impression, and Flash rolled his eyes playfully though none could see it.

"Well, I'm glad to have my girlfriend back and we all heard Kara's elation at your return." he told her.

"So how have things been going around here?" Faith asked, cheerfully.

However, Flash was only reminded of all the things currently going wrong and his smile faultered for a split second.

"Wally, what's going on?" Faith asked, barely catching the slight movement.

Wally bit his lip, knowing Faith had a certain fondness for Bart and knew she wouldn't take the news well.

"Go get your things unpacked, I'll find you in a minute and explain everything."

Faith looked uncertainly from Kara to Wally, before leaving. He watched her go, she shook her head as she left, wondering what was going on.

Flash turned to Supergirl and began filling her in on the new plan.

* * *

Dick, Barbara, and Bruce sat tensely in the dining room as they quickly gobbled up the meal laid before them by Alfred. Dick had finally calmed down after being at the Manor for half an hour. His demeanor indicated that now he was more worried than angry, which was a necessary improvement if they expected him to make any progress in finding his two younger siblings.

Barbara served as mediator between Dick's fuming and Bruce's cold dismissal of the boy's anxiety. It frustrated her to no end when she watched the way the two got along. One would never guess that underneath it all, they loved each other. Just being around them stressed her out. The two really needed to figure out how to relate like human beings, rather than the mindless men they seemed to be. Why was it so hard for Bruce to show his eldest the same affection he lavished on the younger two (not that anyone could really call it 'lavishing')? He loved them all so much, but the poor man didn't know how to show it. And Dick wouldn't assist him in the least.

Sure, the way he showed love to Tim and Sapphire could use improvement, but it was much better than what she witnessed between these two.

Bruce pushed his food around his plate. His mind was processing all that useless information that they'd found concerning the disappearances of the three teenagers. Realizing he would drive himself mad sitting here, he stood abruptly, startling the two others at the extravagant table.

He had to get out of this house. He'd just go out on patrol- clear his mind.

That would do the trick.

"It's ingenious, really." the broad-shouldered man congratulated the next stage in his own plan.

"They'll never see it coming." Mercy agreed with her employer as she drove the two through the city of Metropolis.

"Luckily, your little slip-up in security only aided us. You'd better be thankful." The bald man leaned back in his seat and watched the scenery pass by through the tinted window beside him.

Mercy was thankful. She knew that this powerful man would have decided that he 'had no further use' for her if the two Bats had heard the whole plan and spoiled it all.

Even still, she couldn't help but love the man whose reflection only enhanced the view in her rearview mirror. It may be a twisted love, but she enjoyed every bit of it. She loved him, the power he held, and the ambition behind those black eyes. It excited her and drew her in, much like the light from the bug zapper draws the moth- if she got too close, she'd be dead.

She supposed it was the element of danger that thrilled her the most. It was her drug, her high. And she wouldn't give it up for the world.

"They'll be so busy defending the girl that they won't protect the one we're after. They won't even know it's her until it's too late."

The powerful man seated directly behind Mercy laughed with cold humor that sent chills down her spine. She smiled regardless. She'd do anything for Lex and was always ready to further his cause. The Justice League was too compassionate and they had too many weaknesses, it was only a matter of time before someone exploited them.

Lex had really outdone himself this time.


	19. His Weakness

_**Author's Note: So I'm pretty sure that Target is almost definitely my favorite store because it's been selling notebooks and folders of the Justice League. Granted, it's the old Justice League, so it's ones with only Supes, Aquaman, Flash, and Batman- but they're still super cool. Even if Aquaman is one of my least favorite characters.**_

_**Special thanks to HisWarrior, Dark Inu Fan, and Bambi Eyes 14 for reviewing the last chapter! :D**_

_**Disclaimer: The only characters that actually belong to me are those of Sapphire and Faith. The rest are likely property of DC Comics. They're only letting me borrow a few of them. :D**_

**Chapter 19- His Weakness**

Faith felt an awful sense of foreboding settle on her spirit as she walked down the corridor, her purse and a duffle bag in tow. Her mind was so preoccupied with whatever it was that she'd missed while she and Ollie had been gone that she ran headlong into GL, who also hadn't been paying attention to where he was going.

Bouncing off of him, she dropped her bag and purse as she fell backwards. Luckily, John grabbed her arm before she could hit the ground.

Laughing, Faith allowed him to pull her back onto her feet and he picked up her bags for her- a gentlemanly gesture that she appreciated and thanked with a gracious smile.

"Sorry about that." he chuckled. "Where to?"

"My room."

"I didn't know you were back, Faith. When did you get here?"

"Just a few minutes ago, though it's looking like I missed something." she said, biting her lower lip. For the first time in her life, she felt like Wally was taking his sweet time and wished he would hurry up.

Looking at John, she saw that she was right by the look in his eyes.

"What happened, John? What did I miss?" she asked as they stopped in front of her door. She twisted a lock of her hair nervously as she waited for him to answer.

"I'll take it from here." a red blur stopped in front of her, shaking slightly as Wally's molecules found their place and order. John nodded and left after handing him her things, obviously thinking it was something Wally should explain- which only served further cause her anxiety level to spike.

As the two entered her room and dropped her stuff by the door, Faith fell on the couch with an exhasperated groan as she pulled off her purple domino mask. He followed her lead and pushed his cowl off his head, revealing bright green eyes and a mess of red hair.

"Whatever it is, Wally West, you'd better explain it and do so quickly." she commanded, concern filling her eyes.

Her mind was running crazy with possibilities. Someone had died. Someone was gone. Someone was sick or injured or any number of things.

"It's about Bart." he said, shuffling his feet before sitting down on a nearby chair.

"What?!" Faith shot up again, worry for her young friend overwhelming her. "Wally spit it out! Stop stalling."

"He'sbeenkidnappedandit'sallmyfault!" he blurted out, superspeed setting in. "NotonlyhimbutSapphireandTimandthatwasmyfaulttooandnowKara'sindangerand-"

"Stop." Faith said, trying to calm both herself and Wally as she sat back down. She could see his distress and it worried her. "I can't understand you when you talk hyperspeed. You have to slow down enough for my ears." she reminded him gently, trying to stop the quick beating of her heart.

"Bart has been kidnapped by a new gang of villians. Not only him, but Dark Falcon and Robin- Batman's daughter and younger son. It's all my fault, Faith. I wasn't there to help Bart and ran over to Br-Batman's man-er-house and he sent Dark Falcon and Robin out and they got kidnapped too." he said, struggling to keep his lips from slipping into overdrive.

Rubbing his temples with his middle fingers, he rested his elbows on his knees, the stress clearly wearing him out.

Faith pulled one of his hands away and held it in her hands.

"Dark Falcon?" she asked, unfamiliar with the name.

"Like I said, she's Batman's daughter. She'd fifteen or sixteen or something. Robin saved her from her abusive father after she got kidnapped by the Joker, who thought she was Batgirl. She also almost got raped by some kid at school, but Robin got to her before he could do anything.

"Anyway, when I first met her, I told her that she didn't look so bad in spandex-"

"You said _what_?" Faith asked, eyebrows raising nearly to her hairline.

Rather sheepishly, Wally rubbed the back of his neck as his face turned the color of his costume.

"Yeah, I know, it was a stupid thing to say. And I'm sorry, really I am." he said, trying to make amends with the girl he'd fallen so deeply in love with and almost lost shortly after he'd realized it. "I meant it as a compliment."

"Wally, that's not a compliment, that's a pick up line. I'm surprised she wasn't offended." Faith scolded, though with a forgiving nature. She knew Wally's heart well enough to knew he was telling the truth.

He brought a hand up to his eye and smiled slightly.

"Oh, she was insulted. In fact, she punched me."

Faith couldn't hold back a laugh. "You deserved it."

"GL laughed too." he noted wryly. "Shayera, however, was none too happy, but then again- neither was Robin."

"Sibling protectiveness?" she asked, quite familiar with Shayera's older sister-like nature when it came to Wally.

"Bingo." he responed.

He went on to tell the rest of the story, Faith interrupting and commenting when she felt it was necessary. At the end, Wally was still upset as Faith reassured him.

"We're going to get them back, Wally. We're going to get them back."

_Oh Lord, help us get them back!_

* * *

Sapphire opened her eyes and looked up at the bright blue ceiling whose light had interrupted her sleep far too many times.

_Stasis field._ she observed groggily. _They don't want the martian guy, was it J'onn? Yeah, it was J'onn. They don't want him reaching us telepathically. Well that sucks._

Sighing, she stood and surveyed the cell, stepping around her sleeping brother to inspect the walls that held them. Peering at the metal on the walls, she found no indications of a weak point or anything.

_Tim would've found them already if there had been any weaknesses._ she figured, sighing as she slid her back down the wall again. _I'll bet these walls are laced with lead._

Sapphire smiled as her brother snored on the ground nearby, his head face down on his folded forearms. Across the reinforced glass-like wall, Sapphire spotted Bart in a similar position.

She was glad for some peace and quiet, apparently Kid Flash thoroughly enjoyed the art of talking, much to Tim's annoyance. For as peppy as Tim was sometimes, he most definitely took after Dick when he was in situations that he didn't like. The two were alike when they were angry, or just moody.

She supposed they all were like that, except maybe Barbara- though she had a few tendencies resembling the Waynes' tempers. Likely because of prolonged exposure to them.

Sapphire hoped her brother would get plenty of sleep, he'd need the patience that came with slumber.

Standing, she approached the door of their cell, still glass-like, but with metal outlining and a keypad on the other side that granted their captors access to them. She felt like a rat in a cage.

Gritting her teeth, she pushed her face against the glass to get a good look at her surroundings, memorizing each bit of it. Bruce had drilled it into her that one always needed to use their surroundings to their advantage.

Well, she wouldn't be taken by surprise. If there was an opening for escape, they would find it. They were the children of the World's Greatest Detective, after all.

* * *

Batman set the child he'd just rescued from being flattened by a bus into the arms of his mother with an almost mechanical air about him. The woman clutched at the child as if he were her life support and her little boy cried into the crevice of her neck.

Tears fell onto the little boy's blonde hair as she smiled at Batman.

"Thank you so much, Batman." she sniffed. "I don't know what I'd do without my little Micah."

He nodded mindlessly as he shot his grapple at a nearby tall building and pressed the button that drew him upward and onto it.

_Don't ask me what you'd do. I'm still not sure what I'm doing without my own children._

Emotion.

It was something he tried to keep back at all costs, but messing with his kids? The tides always turned when someone messed with one of his kids. It was dangerous ground for those who chose to tread it, because no one knew where he would draw the line.

His weakness.

Batman slammed a fist down on the concrete barrier that stood between him and a sixty foot fall. That was why he always tried to keep himself from showing emotion. It was why he had scolded Sapphire for saying that Robin was her brother in battle only a few days ago. When you give away your weakness, your enemy takes the opportunity to pounce on it.

Of course, it was inevitable. The Justice League's biggest weakness was compassion, which doubled as it's greatest strength.

That was the difference between a hero and a villian. A hero loves and a villian could care less. Those heroes who worked closely with one another were bound to love one another and it would be their downfall if taken advantage of. It's why villians never have secret identities and heroes do. Heroes protect and villians only put people in danger.

That's why they took Bart. That's why they took Sapphire and Tim.

Batman briefly considered telling them that they could no longer fight with him. He could always take their costumes and put them in the glass encasing that had held Dick's old robin suit before Tim stole it.

No, he couldn't do that. He wouldn't risk driving a wedge between him and his younger two children as he had with the oldest. They'd only take up different costumes until he would relent. He cursed internally at his decision to let either of them fight in the first place. Not that he'd gotten the choice with Tim.

If he ever had another child, he decided, they were not going to fight.


	20. So Boring

_**Author's Note: So I think I've figured out a definite direction for this story, though there are still quite a few things to get worked out. But I've had many ideas pop up, all of which I'm quite excited about. This chapter is completely Dark Falcon, Robin, and Kid Flash centered. I felt like we'd been neglecting them in the past few chapters. So here we go!**_

_**Disclaimer: Faith and Sapphire are mine, while the rest should be quite familiar to you as the property of DC Comics. Unless you don't know DC characters so well, in that case I pity you.**_

**Chapter 20- So Boring**

"Would you shut up already!?" Robin yelled, his fuse of patience quickly coming to an end. Granted, it wasn't a very long fuse. Leaning against a wall, with one foot against it, he was trying to formulate a plan of escape. However, this idiot in the cell across from him was only serving to frazzle his brain with his never-ending chatter.

"Whoa, Rob. No need to freak out on me." Kid Flash replied, sitting Indian-style and facing his two fellow inmates. "You could have asked nicely." The 'kid' had been giving the two Bats a long narration on how winter made it harder for him to run at high speeds because the combined freezing temperatures and speed made his eyes water and turn to ice crystals- sometimes freezing his eyeballs temporarily.

"We did. Seven times." Dark Falcon groaned, she was still sitting against the wall with her head back, staring at the ceiling. They're capturers had apparently made it water-proof after the last time they captured Batman and he'd shorted out the circuiting and contacted J'onn. Both she and Tim had spat their water up at the ceiling the moment one of the villians' goons had brought them food. It was futile.

_I wonder if he has caller-id on that brain of his._ She wondered with a smirk. If they tried contacting him, would it even work? She'd never tried contacting a telepath before. Shaking her head, she stood and began pacing the cave because her legs were getting stiff.

_I suppose I'll just add that to the list of things I wish I'd bothered to ask him before this happened._

"I wouldn't call those as 'asking nicely'."

"Does it matter?" Robin answered.

"Well aren't you two just rays of sunshine." Kid Flash harrumphed. "This is so boring. When are they going to tell us what's going on?" he moaned as he plopped onto his back.

Neither answered, both were deep in thought.

Sitting back up, Kid Flash tapped his head a few times and cocked his head to the the right a bit. His reddish-brown shock of hair falling to the same side.

"I'll bet my cousin is worried sick. He's always worrying like that. Grammy Flash says she's never seen anyone change from reckless to responsible as quickly as he did when he became Flash, even more so when I became a hero. For him, that is. She says I'm still reckless." he began rambling again, much to the displeasure of his companions. "What's Batman like? Is he a worry wart too? Is he always grumpy like you two?"

"I suggest we not talk about our mentors, Kid." Sapphire responded with more than a little annoyance in her voice. "You don't know if they're listening and we don't want anything we say being used to their advantage. How much our capture would affect them is definitely something they could use against the Justice League."

Kid Flash's mouth closed as he realized the logic in what she said. He became a bit more serious.

"Have you seen anything that they're using to monitor us?"

"There are two surveillance cameras over to the left of us and two to your right." Robin said, using his leg that was on the wall to push himself into standing position, nodding his head in each direction as Falcon and Kid Flash followed the direction with their eyes. "Likely they've bugged the place like Sa-Falcon says. Other than that, I haven't found anything else. Yet."

Sapphire nodded as she studied the cameras that watched them. Two stemmed from the wall on the left side of their cell, just outside the door and one stemmed from the right of Kid Flash's. On each pair, one camera faced the cell, while the other faced outward, making sure anything that occurred within an approximately twenty foot radius would be on film.

As the three fell into silence once again, each fell to their own business while listening to the steady beat of Falcon as she repetitively walked the length of the cell. Every now and then she would do a flip or two, much to Kid Flash's amusement, just to keep herself occupied. Now, as always, gymnastics would help her to clear her mind and focus on what was important.

However, her mind kept drifting back to Bart's question about whether the Batman was worrying too. Knowing Bruce, he was going out of his mind with worry and determination, though only those who knew him well would be able to place it. She hoped he wouldn't get carried away. She winced as she thought of Dick. He would be fuming and likely take some of it out on Bruce. And as always, Barbara would get between the two, soothing Dick before he could do anything stupid.

Sapphire's heart ached as she thought of her surrogate family, the one she claimed as her own. Her brothers, her father, her future sister-in-law (as she and Tim liked to call her behind her back). She was glad that Tim was here, though, he would keep her sane for as long as they were stuck in this cell.

She hoped their stay here would be a short one.

Robin let out a long breath on her right and she sat down beside him, watching Kid Flash as he proceeded to try to do a handstand. Growling with frustration as he fell, he tried again, balancing with his feet against the wall until he pushed away and ended up on his back again.

"Must be quite boring to be living at super speed in your mind and not be able to move accordingly. Bet he feels like he's swimming in gum." Tim commented quietly, so only she could hear. He didn't want him getting any ideas that he was in the talking mood.

"What do you think they're planning on doing with us? They can't possibly be thinking of just leaving us in here until we die of boredom... or annoyance." she said, a slight grin creeping across her face.

"No idea." he answered, smiling in response to his sister's remark. "Though your commenting to Kid Flash got me thinking. I think it has something to do with us being the weak link."

"Joy." she responded. "So there's a good chance we'll be used as bait or something?"

"That's what I figure."

They were interrupted by Kid Flash falling on his face again, which caused Dark Falcon to laugh in spite of herself. He stood back up and sent a dark look her way that only served to encourage her merriment.

"Glad you enjoyed it." he mumbled. His statement was followed by his stomach rumbling. "When do we get to eat? I'm starved."

"We ate two hours ago. My guess would be a few more." Robin responded.

"I'll never last that long!" he pronounced melodramatically. "If I'm gonna die, I'd rather go out with a bang than starve to death."

"Shhh." Dark Falcon responded, eyebrows furrowing above her domino mask.

"Would you two stop bossing me around? I'm not-"

"Shut up, would you? I hear something." she hissed in response.

He stopped his protest and listened as well. Sure enough, the sound of footfalls reached the young speedster's ears and he faced the direction he heard them as the two Bats stood from where they were sitting as well.

From around the corner, Tim watched as the forms of four men materialize as they entered the hallway outside of their cells. Two men lead the way. The first he recognized as the Penguin, his small and rotund body as unmistakable as the long nose and waddle which defined his gait. He didn't recognize the second, a thin man with a sickly white face and the rest of him clothed in black. He sported a top hat and cane that he leaned one arm on as he stopped and stood before them. Following closely behind were two men he deemed as henchmen, one carrying a tray with a few sandwiches on it that appeared to be some sad attempt at peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.

Standing outside the door, Penguin eyed the three of them with what strongly resembled a condescending air and Robin almost wished they could see his eyes rolling underneath his domino mask.

The other henchman, he now saw, carried three sets of what he would call manacles- though there was likely a better term for them that Bruce would know. They were metal arm cuffs that would cover one's entire lower arm when firmly on and he knew would make thing infinitely more uncomfortable once they were on.

He glanced at both Kid Flash and Dark Falcon, both of whom seemed to be analyzing the situation in the same way he was. How could they use this to their advantage and make a possible escape?

Walking to the first door, Robin and Dark Falcon's, the figure in black punched in a code that Robin listened to carefully, storing the tones away in his mind to match with numbers when he had time later.

The door made a whooshing noise as it slid open and Shade stood aside as the man with the manacles came in and began walking toward Robin.

"Don't try anything prestigious, rodents." Penguin was saying, his umbrella slowly swaying from side to side as he supervised the goings- on.

"Wouldn't think of it." Robin said sarcastically as the man reached him and opened the manacles, presenting them for his arms. He made to comply, but at the last second, dropped into a crouch and kicked the man's feet out from under him, knocking him flat on his back before he could react. The other man, who had already set his tray of sandwiches down in case of something like this, came rushing in. He was quickly greeted with Dark Falcon flipping over the man on the ground, who was hastily getting back onto his feet, and landing her boot on his chest. Using the momentum from bouncing of the second lackey, she did a back flip in the air and kicked his face with the other foot as she did.

Robin displayed a similar bit of gymnastics as he did a front handspring and knocked the first guy into the adjacent wall with his feet.

"Whoa. No fair! Why do you two get to have all the fun!" Bart's voice cried, itching to help in the escape attempt as well.

Landing on his feet again, Robin prepared for the man to get up and fight, when a black mass that appeared to be originating from within Penguin's friend's cane wrapped around Dark Falcon, she being closest to the door, and pulled her outward and into Penguin's arms. A shrill scream pierced the now thickening silence as the transfer was made, Sapphire not having expected any dark entity to swallow her.

Robin started toward them when the mass of blackness pulled away from his sister and Penguin's umbrella sprouted a dagger at the end that he held firmly at her neck as his thick hands firmly held her wrists behind her.

"Not so fast, Bat." he reprimanded Robin. "Keep acting up and we'll have to get rid of her. Good work, Shade."

Robin stepped back, raising his arms in the universal sign of surrender.

The two henchmen stood and the first, whom Robin had attacked, sent a swift punch to the boy's stomach that knocked him against the wall and robbed him of his breath.

Standing straight again with his jaw clenched, he held out his arms and allowed the man to shackle him.

"Fine. I'm complying. Now leave her alone." he ground out angrily as the two men left, the second henchman throwing two sandwiches in his direction. Robin ignored it as he stared down the two villians that were obviously in charge.

Dark Falcon allowed her own arms to be manacled and Kid Flash did the same when Robin's door had been shut and his opened. None would attempt anything while they had the upper hand. Sapphire mentally cursed herself for letting them get her. Just another in her long list of failures as of late.

"Look, we're all cooperating." Kid Flash told them, his brow furrowing in concern as he let them shackle his arms. "You can let her go now."

Finishing up, the man with the sandwiches threw the rest into Kid Flash's cell to accommodate for his metabolism.

"Actually, Dark Falcon will be coming with us." The man Penguin had identified as Shade informed them. "Mr. Luthor sent for her."

"What does he want with her?" Robin asked angrily, moving to the front of the cell, eyes blazing beneath his mask.

"That's none of your concern." Penguin answered coolly as he shoved Falcon forward, with the tip of his umbrella, which had now been converted back into that of a normal umbrella.

"I'll be fine, Robin. Don't worry about me." she told him, jaw also clenched as a strand of red hair fell into her face.

Robin fumed as they took her away, mentally berating himself for allowing them to take her, just as he figured she was mentally berating herself for being taken.

_If they hurt her, I'll..._ he left the threat hanging in his mind, deciding to fill it in with whatever seemed appropriate when they returned.

He knew one thing- she'd better be alright, or so help him he would knock that over-extended nose right off of Penguin's face. Come to think of it, he might do that anyway.

Kid Flash's remark brought him temporarily out of his mental rant.

"Well, that was interesting."


	21. In Need of Healing

_**Author's Note: Well, I'm still working on an absolute direction for this story, but I'm getting there. I almost decided to wait to update, but figured y'all might come after me with the pitchforks. Yikes!! :D  
I'm not sure how I feel about this chapter. In some ways I like it and in some I don't. I suppose I'll let you be the judge.**_

_**Disclaimer: Sapphire and Faith are the products of my overactive imagination. The rest are the products of someone else's.**_

**Chapter 21- In Need of Healing**

_"It's not me it's you._

_It's not me it's you._

_Always has been you._

_All the lies and stupid things you say and do._

_It's you._

_It's not me it's you._

_All the lies and pain you put me through._

_I know that it's not me, it's you."_

_-It's Not Me It's You by Skillet_

Superman, J'onn, Wonder Woman, Shayera, and Green Lantern sat around their conference table. Each had sort of migrated in there, somewhat confused over the new splashes of emotions their fellow teammates had shown- ones they'd never seen from them.

"What's with them? I've never seen them act like this before." Shayera blurted out, fingers toying with her mace nervously.

"I've never seen Batman so worried in my life." Superman agreed, who'd known Bruce the longest. "I expected him to be angry, but this..." he trailed off. Wouldn't he be just as upset? But no one anticipated that kind of emotion coming from Batman.

"He usually hides it better." Diana commented. "These cowards tread dangerous ground."

"And Flash, he's beside himself in worry. He's going to make himself sick." John added, thinking of his best friend.

"He hasn't slept either." Shayera nodded. "He's blaming himself." She knew the boy better than even John did.

Everyone looked at J'onn for his analysis. The martian shrugged, brow furrowing.

"Both Batman and Flash have... walls. In their minds, I mean. Ones that none of you have. It has always prevented me from reading more than the surface of their minds, though I normally don't peer that far. Somehow, this whole ordeal is affecting those walls, letting feelings and emotions through that they don't know how to deal with."

This new bit of information seemed to shake them slightly.

"Wally? A wall?" Superman asked. "What could Wally possibly be hiding?"

It was no surprise to any of them that Bruce had walls. That much was clear. But Wally? He was the happiest kid any of them had met.

"Most walls are formed from traumatic experiences, hard times, and other such things. As time passes, those walls often get stronger if they're not broken when small. A sort of shell, like Earth's turtles."

"A shell that keeps the inside in and the outside out." Shayera added. J'onn nodded.

Yet the question still lingered in all of their minds, though all knew there was no immediate answer-

_What is Wally hiding?_

* * *

Dick paced the floor of the Batcave angrily. Barbara had already gone back to Bludhaven and he was glad to be left alone for a few minutes.

He hated feeling helpless. It was the way he'd felt when his parents had been killed. He'd watched them fall. He'd seen their faces, their expressions of terror as they plummetted toward the ground.

Dick shook his head, ridding himself of the thought. He'd already played the scene over and over in his head since their deaths and didn't need to play it through again.

Seeing someone die was a traumatic thing. A scarring that he didn't want to remember- didn't want to have lived in the first place.

He supposed that was why he and Bruce were so much alike. Both of them had watched their parents die, helplessly standing by as their lives drained from their bodies.

Thinking of Bruce, his mind began to rage, a welcome escape from the memories.

How could Bruce let this happen? How could he let Tim and Sapph be taken like this? How dare he?

_"It's not his fault, Dick." Barbara yelled, standing between the two._

_Dick stared at Bruce's cold unfeeling eyes. _

_"You're sick, Bruce." he spat, then looked at Barbara thrusting a finger at his only father's face. "Look at him! He doesn't care. He's not even worried. He doesn't care that they're gone!"_

_"He does. He just-" Barbara began, but Bruce pushed her aside, getting in his eldest son's face with a display of emotion that shocked them._

_"You think I don't care?! You think I'm sitting here thinking that we're better off without them? You know I love them. You know I care!" Bruce's eyes were flaming and Dick was taken aback, speechless. "I've always cared! I've always worried! Do you think I made them my children so I could have new partners? Do you think that's why I took you in when your parents died? No!" _

_"Bruce..." _

_"Quiet, Barbara." he cut her off again. "Do you think I sat back and fiddled around when I found out Slade had kidnapped you? Do you think I didn't care then?"_

_Stunned silence._

_"No! Even though it was already over, I was worried sick. Alfred had to keep me from hunting down the man and I'm eternally thankful he did."_

_Dick was taken aback by Bruce's outburst, and at this point so was Barbara._

_Having finally calmed down, Bruce stepped back, shaking his head with disappointment._

_"You should know me better than that, Dick. You should know me better." _

And then he was gone.

Dick fumed as he recalled the memory, allowing his anger to soothe his wounded spirit.

How dare Bruce change the tide like that? How could he make this about him? Dick was supposed to be mad at Bruce, not the other way around!

Throwing punches at a nearby punching back, he took out his anger on the inanimate object. His emotions jumbled themselves together.

Bruce had cared? Really? He had worried about Dick?

Tears stung the back of his eyes. He recalled his short conversation with Slade so many years ago.

_"Who knows? I might even become like a father to you."_

_"I already have a father."_

He'd remembered his father, even then. Knowing he loved him, knowing if all else failed- it would be his dad that would come in and save the day- Bruce.

When had he forgotten?

* * *

Dark Falcon was lead to a large room some number of hallways away. She'd tried to memorize the way, but even with her training it was practically a maze to her. This room was at the end of the hallway and was a long rectangular shape. Filling a majority of it was a long conference table, black, with a neon yellow slope upward to a raised middle. The lights were three circles of the same yellow color.

The rest of the room was colored in hues of red and orange, shadow used for affect added to the black accents.

At the head of the table, a single chair was bolted in the floor. It spun around to reveal the bald man easily identified as Luthor. Nearly anyone in the world could identify him- the same way they could identify Bruce Wayne. They were some of the richest men around, they're names were practically household.

"Leave her." he ordered, fingers pressed together as he watched the men leave.

Dark Falcon stood there, suddenly feeling vulnerable and her heart began to pound. Her arms were still in shackles and she fidgeted with what she could reach, feeling for any weakness. She knew it was useless, but she might as well try.

"Why don't you take a seat?" he asked, gesturing toward the chair on the right side of the table.

"I'd rather stand."

"It doesn't make a difference to me." he shrugged, studying her as she stood close to the doorway. He stood and paced across the floor, glancing back at her every few moments. "Do you know what day it is?"

She didn't answer.

"No, of course you don't." he chuckled. "You're still confused from your capture. It's only been a day. It's December 12th."

Still, Dark Falcon didn't speak. She saw no reason to. All she wanted to know was why he'd kidnapped her and the others, and why he'd brought her here now.

He leaned back against the wall and watched her, so she decided to speak.

"What do you want with me?"

"What do I want with you?" he repeated, pushing himself off of the wall and he began to walk toward her. "I have a mission for you."

"A mission?" she asked as he drew closer. She felt her body begin to tremble and took a step back, not wanting to show weakness, but afraid nonetheless.

This didn't go unnoticed by Lex, who stopped and looked at her thoughtfully.

She felt cornered. She'd been cornered before and vulnerable. Flashbacks of Tony, of Braden, of her biological father. She closed her eyes and looked away.

"We're taking you to Metropolis."

Dark Falcon opened her eyes and looked back at the man before her, shock overcoming her somewhat irrational fear.

"What?"

"You heard me, you're going to Metropolis."

"Why?"

"You're going to fight the Justice League."


	22. Here Goes Nothing

_**Author's Note: Had a bit of writer's block lately as I tried to figure out how Luthor's scheme would play out and progress. I'm pretty sure I've got it mostly figured out, but any further suggestions are always appreciated. :P**_

_**Otherwise, just don't forget to tell me what you think of the new chapter!**_

_**Disclaimer: Sadly, I cannot claim ownership of most of the characters mentioned in this chapter. However, both Sapphire and Faith are mine.**_

**Chapter 22- Here Goes Nothing**

_"The light behind your eyes_

_Tells me that you cried_

_Sometime tonight._

_I offer down my hand_

_But without your plans_

_You cannot hide."_

_-Serenity by Fireflight_

Dark Falcon bit her lower lip as she watched the needle puncture her skin on the inside of her elbow. She wasn't terribly fond of needles, but she'd rather let Luthor do it than have the knife at her throat cut any deeper. She already had a few trickles of blood streaming down her neck.

Mercy held the knife tight, no doubt smirking at the younger girl's current predicament.

"What's this for, Luthor?" she asked through gritted teeth.

At this point, Dark Falcon just kept thinking over and over how much she wished she had more experience before this came along. No doubt Bruce or Dick, if put in this situation, would have already gotten out by now and had the perpetrators in jail. She supposed that was exactly why they weren't here. Like Robin said, they were probably the weakest links.

"Well, I have to have some insurance that you won't be able to defy me. Especially the meta. I'm inserting a tiny microscopic organism into your blood stream that, when I choose to, will render your body helpless. The others are getting the same as we speak." Luthor said, pulling out the needle and setting it on a nearby medical tray.

"Like I said before, Luthor," I began, ignoring the knife at my throat. "I can't fight the Justice League. I'd be dead within the first three minutes."

"You underestimate your training." he said casually, standing and walking toward the doorway. "And I doubt the Bat would let them kill his... daughter, is it?" She didn't answer, only stared at him as her disgust for him grew.

"But just in case you need some help..." he said, waving someone in.

Just then, two men entered the room, hauling an unconscious Kid Flash with them.

"Put them on the helicopter. When he wakes up, you can fill him in for me, Dark Falcon."

She thought back to the conversation with Luthor they'd had around twenty minutes ago...

_"No. I refuse." Dark Falcon had told him, fear threatening to swallow her heart. She couldn't fight them. She couldn't betray Bruce like that, she couldn't betray those that stood for the same thing she did- justice._

_"You don't have a choice." Lex had laughed, sitting back in his chair at head of the long conference table. "You have no choice. You leave within the hour."  
Dark Falcon bit her lip, mind running with possibilities._

_"And don't even think about running or escaping. If they catch you or if you fail, you're dear little brother dies." _

_Pressing a button on his belt, a television screen unfolded itself and flickered on. On it, she could see the image of her brother pacing the cell with a nearly unbridled anger. Kid Flash was watching worriedly, silent as he peered through the glass._

_With another press of the button, Robin's jaw clenched and he began to shake wildly. Falling to his knees, he tried to hold himself together. After a few more seconds of shaking, he threw his head back with a scream she couldn't hear with her ears. Yet it tore into her heart just the same._

_Kid Flash was banging against the glass, his mouth moving quickly and panicking._

_"No, stop. Please!" Dark Falcon begged, eyes wide with terror. "I'll do it. I'll do it. Just don't hurt anyone." _

_Luthor pressed the button again and she watched Robin fall limply to the ground. Kid Flash was still pounding on the glass, and now she could see that he was yelling Robin's name. She looked close, to be sure he was still breathing, before turning back to Luthor._

_"I can't take on the Justice League. I can hardly take on your villians." she said with an air of defeat. It was true. Everytime she'd been faced with a challenge like that, she'd lost poorly._

_"Nonsense. You were trained by the Bat. You're better than you think." Luthor answered, folding his hands in his lap. "Of course, we'll give you a few new tools. Some a bit more dangerous than you're used to."_

* * *

"Face it, Lex-y." a grin emerged from the shadows of the conference room. "You've got a flair for the dramatic."

"Don't be ridiculous, Joker." he responded, annoyed with the clown's presence already.

The ghostly white face and green hair emerged fully and came up behind the man, tracing patterns with his gloved finger on Luthor's bald head.

"Oh, you may not want to admit it, Lex. But you're more like me than you know." he smiled, hop-skipping to the nearest chair and sitting with a spin. "If you were different, you would have unmasked the girl right then and there."

Lex remained tight-lipped as he continued to shuffle around the paperwork in front of him.

"But no, you'd rather relish the moment. You'd rather unmask the Batman first, not his 'little girl'." Joker said, leaning back. "I, on the other hand, prefer torture. It's such a thrill when they finally relent."

Putting his feet on the table, he looked at the man who claimed to be head of the whole operation.

Lex preferred to kill the Batman and the other Leaguers first, but when Joker got the chance- he would kill every one of those inhumorous Batkids and make Batman watch. He'd break them each and show his handiwork to the Bat. Then he'd slaughter them. He'd make Batman cry so hard that he laughed. Then, and only then, would he let him die- slow and painfully.

Then after the Bat was dead, the League would be helpless.

"Of course, I haven't gotten the chance with any of them. The Bat keeps them too close- too far from harm." he grinned again. "But now..."

"You're not to touch them, Joker." Luthor turned, looking the clown in the eyes. "They're use hasn't ended and you won't lay a hand on them until I say the word."

Jumping to his feet, he let a frown fall upon his face before leaning down in Luthor's face.

"Why so serious, Lex-y?It's just a joke." he responded, with a bone-chilling smile.

"Get out."

The Joker aquiesced and left. But his grin stayed glued to his pasty white face as he imagined the demise of Batman- something that would be executed by his own two hands.

* * *

Dark Falcon felt her body quaking slightly and rushed to still it. She had to be strong. She had to fight.

Looking out the window of the helicopter that was thousands of feet above the ground, she felt chilled to the bone. She had to fight the Justice League and she couldn't get captured. The moment she did, Robin would be killed.

And if she betrayed Luthor's men, her body would go limp and they'd just take her back, likely to torture all three of them.

Dark Falcon sat, hands fidgeting with her utility belt. It would be so easy to get away right now. It would be so easy just to hand herself over to the Justice League. But she couldn't betray Tim like that, or Bart for that matter.

Speak of the devil, the younger speedster was waking up.

"Who? What? Where?" he panicked as he shot his head up and spun it around wildly.

"Honestly, do you do anything slowly?" she asked, voice lacking the mirth that would have normally accompanied such a statement.

"That was slow." he answered, brow furrowing. She rolled her eyes behind her domino mask in response. "What's going on? Where are we?"

"On our way to Metropolis." Dark Falcon answered as he eyed Shade and Poison Ivy. "We have to fight the Justice League."

"What?!" he responded, jumping to his feet and dashing over to the open side of the helicopter to peer over. Dark Falcon grabbed the back of his costume and pulled him back into a nearby seat.

"Don't you dare screw this up." she hissed. "If we don't follow through, they're going to kill Robin."

He seemed to consider this for only a second, but finally leaned back in his seat with an exhasperated groan.

"How on earth are we going to do that?"

* * *

Supergirl touched her comm. link as she flew over the city her cousin had sworn to protect. Her eye had caught something unusual and she needed confirmation. She hovered in place as she waited for the signal to reach someone.

Flash, Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, and Shayera had come to help and were each hidden somewhat nearby. Green Lantern had been needed elsewhere.

Supergirl didn't exactly like the idea of being bait, but at least it would help someone- and that's why she was part of the Justice League.

"What is it?" a voice said in response to her call.

"Batman, what did you say your daughter looked like?"

"Red hair braided and in a bun, black suit, domino mask, and cape. Why?"

""I think I found her, but something's wrong with her." Kara told him, eyeing the hunched over form on the roof below her. "She looks hurt."

"I'll be right there."

Descending onto the rooftop, Kara kept back for a moment, wondering how this girl who'd just been kidnapped by renowned supervillians had ended up on a roof in Metropolis. The idea that it might be a trap presented itself, but the girl looked so sick that she couldn't help but reach out to her.

Tear streaks marked the girl's face and her breath was coming in short gasps. She was clutching her middle, as if it would fall away if she let go. Shaking her head, angrily, and whispering words of protest, more tears fell that made Kara's heart go out to her.

"Dark Falcon?" she asked slowly, carefully.

The girl jumped back, startled. Her eyes widened considerably and her knees weakened. She very nearly collapsed. Kara was at her side in an instant, holding her up.

"Everything's okay now. Batman and the others are on their way. Everything's going to be okay." she tried to soothe the girl.

"No, it's not okay." the girl answered. "It's not going to be okay."

Confused, Kara looked down just in time to see her pull out a small chunk of Kryptonite from her utility belt and she felt her stomach churn. Stumbling backward, Kara desperately tried to get away from the rock that threatened to bring back her breakfast from that morning.

"Nothing's okay anymore."

* * *

"Batman, what did you say your daughter looked like?" a voice came over Nightwing's communicator.

The Bat has set up all theirs to be able to listen to the Justice League frequency, in case something like this came up. His kids needed to be informed whenever he was in danger, or in this case, when there was a lead on where Dick's siblings were.

"Red hair, braided and in a bun, black suit, domino mask, and cape. Why?" Batman's gruff voice answered the feminine one. One who could read Batman's emotions better than most would hear the concern evident in it. Dick couldn't miss it, not anymore.

Had he sounded like that when he'd heard of his own capture?

"I think I found her, but something's wrong with her. She looks hurt."

Nightwing's fists balled and he didn't hear the rest as he jumped on the back of his motorcycle and sped from the Batcave.

Whoever had hurt her would pay.

A pang of worry shot into his spine. If Sapphire was hurt and alone, where was Tim? Where was his baby brother?

* * *

Dark Falcon stood on the rooftop, body shaking with sobs as she waited for someone to spot her.

_I can't go through with this. I can't hurt them. I can't try to kill them._

Luthor's voice came over the small communicator in her ear he'd given both of them.

"If you get the chance, kill them. Kill them or Robin dies."

"No." she mouthed, shaking her head through the sobs.

_Could she really kill to save a life? It wasn't supposed to work this way! The good guys should always have a way out._

"Dark Falcon?"

Hearing her name caused her to jump nearly out of her skin. Turning around, she saw Supergirl behind her. Her stomach tightened. It was Supergirl or Robin. Superman's cousin or her little brother.

Knees weak, she fell back and nearly collapsed, but this blonde girl in a costume that strongly resembled that of her cousin came to her aid immediately. She whispered comforting words.

"Everything's okay now. Batman and the others are on their way. Everything's going to be okay."

Not Batman. She couldn't fight her own father. Not the man who'd taken her in and made her his own. She had to end this now.

"No, it's not okay." she said, reaching into her utility belt. "It's not going to be okay."

Pulling out the glowing rock that she knew Bruce often carried in his own utility belt, just in case, she watched the girl's face become pale. The glow from the rock made her look sickly, not that she wasn't at this point.

"Nothing's okay anymore."

Her hand shook as she held the rock closer. The blonde girl fell on her rump, cringing in pain.

Dark Falcon desperately wanted to close her eyes, to block out the vision of this Kryptonian dying by her own hand. She felt nausea boil in her stomach.

"Finish it." Luthor's voice came over the communicator, displaying his sick pleasure in the whole situation. She didn't know how he saw what was going on, but she wished he couldn't.

Suddenly, she saw a red blur coming toward her. Just before it reached her, something yellow came in front of her. The red tumbled over what she guessed was Kid Flash's outstretched boot and hit her arm backward, knocking the Kryptonite from her hand and sending both the blur and the green rock skidding across the rooftop.

She let out an annoyed hiss of pain as her arm was knocked back at superspeed.

_Wally!_ she thought. She wasn't sure whether she was happy or angry. He was putting her brother's life in danger.

"Sorry." Kid Flash whispered apologetically, standing beside her.

Even with his interference, she'd lost the rock. She cursed under her breath.

"Dark Falcon? Kid Flash? What are you doing?" Wally asked, concern dripping from his voice.

Before she could answer, though, she heard another familiar voice.

"Dark Falcon." It was Batman.

Turning around, she faced Shayera, Batman, Wonder Woman, and Superman- who was now holding his recovering cousin in his arms.

Dark Falcon gulped and glanced at Kid Flash, who also looked very worried.

_Here goes nothing._


	23. Outnumbered

_**Author's Note: Special thanks to the Wikipedia page for the contents of Batman's utility belt. It really helped when trying to come up with the names of certain gadgets I'd seen before! :D**_

_**I know I'm beginning to sound like a broken record- but please review!! It's food for the starving author! :D**_

_**Disclaimer: I don't own Wonder Woman, Supergirl, Superman, Shayera, Flash, Batman, Nightwing, Joker, Harley, Ivy, Shade, Luthor, or even Kid Flash. I do own Dark Falcon, though, and the plotline. So this story is still unattainable without me. :D**_

**Chapter 23- Outnumbered**

Robin paced the length of his cell feeling a flurry of emotions as they hit the fan. It had been little over an hour since they'd knocked Kid Flash over the head and dragged him out unconscious and there was still no word as to what they were doing.

He kicked the wall of his cell angrily as he mentally went through a list of ways to escape, desperately hoping for the impossibility to occur.

_Why couldn't Dick be the one in this situation? No doubt he'd handle it better than I'm able to._ He thought with annoyance.

All he wanted to know right now was where Bart and Sapphire were.

Hearing the echoing footsteps of someone approaching, Robin managed to calm himself down long enough to lean against the wall in a casual stance.

In came the Joker and his blonde bimbo, Harley.

"No hello?" Joker began, feigning insult. "I'm shocked to say in the least!"

"Poor Mista J.!" Harley bemoaned, unable to wipe her own stupid grin off her face.

"What do you want, Joker?" Robin questioned, much more keen on getting back to his brooding. The realization that he was becoming much like his mentor in that respect made him both troubled and slightly happy. He wasn't sure which to give in to.

"Why- _you_!" Joker said chillingly, blood red smile broadening on his face.

An involuntary shiver snaked it's way down Robin's spine.

"Sadly, Lex-y won't let me have you little bat kids just yet. Isn't it a shame? We could have so much fun!" he continued on, eyes widening with anticipation that Robin nearly found unnerving. He didn't want to know what was going through the maniac's head.

"Yeah. Sounds wonderful." he answered the clown sarcastically. The Joker continued on unabated.

"But trust me, Robbie, I'll get you and the others and I'll wring it out of you." he told him with a conspiritorial air. "No, I don't think Lex-y's plan is going to work as well as he thinks it will. Too many holes. The Justice League is too predictable and they'll save you, sooner rather than later, I'd surmise. Better for me, then."

"Why are you telling me this?" the fourteen year-old asked, eyes narrowing. He was annoyed at the ability this madman had in making him almost afraid.

"To give you warning, it's only fair." Joker responded and he began to laugh. "Goodbye, Batkid! Until next time, that is!"

When the Clown Prince of Crime and his Harlequinn were gone, Robin slid down the wall he'd been using as steady support and ran a hand through his hair with a shaky breath. Why did his threat awaken such an acute sense of foreboding?

* * *

Batman watched as Dark Falcon and Kid Flash took fighting stances beside one another and wondered what on earth was going on.

"Dark Falcon." he questioned. "What do you think you're doing?"

"Just having a little fun, Bats." she answered after a moment's hesitation and with the end of her sentence came an exploding batarang. He vaguely registered that the smirk on her face was one he didn't recognize.

With multiple yells of surprise, they all managed to get out of the way, with Shayera getting a little help in the form of a shove from Flash.

Immediately, Diana was plowed into by a streak of yellow and she managed to block a little over half of the punches directed at her middle, the others made contact with her stomach. She jumped upward and flew just out of his reach, clutching her middle with surprise.

All eyes turned to Batman and Flash as they stared at their proteges trying to figure out what to do, though they kept their guard up in case the two decided to launch at them again. But for the moment, the two stood beside each other, both looking a bit uncertain.

Batman felt completely torn, for the first time in a long time he had no plan and no idea as to what he should do in order to make this seeming nightmare end.

He realized the others were looking collectively at both him and Flash, searching for guidance in how to confront the two newer heroes.

His personal sentiments just repeated themselves over and over in his mind.

"I promised. I promised I'd never hurt her the way her father did."

Why did they have to fight at all? What was he missing that was so vital in fitting the puzzle pieces together?

"What do you think you're doing?" he repeated. "This isn't like you- either of you."

"Bar- er- Kid Flash." Flash began, stumbling over the boy's name. "Talk to us. Whatever it is, we can help."

Batman watched the two and saw Dark Falcon bite her lip and Kid Flash waiver slightly.

Kid Flash moved first, moving in a blur as he raced toward Shayera and ploughed her over, landing on top of her and he began pounding his fists against her stomach and face until she was unconscious, which didn't take long.

Batman didn't even have time to move as he mentally grimaced at her pained grunts.

Dark Falcon had flipped into the air and pulled Wonder Woman down by kicking her already sore stomach. She fell to the ground with a thud and the younger girl gave a well-placed kick to the raven-haired woman's temple that knocked her out.

A red blur slammed into Dark Falcon and when it stopped moving, Flash was holding a struggling teenage girl by the backs of her arms by her arms.

"Stop them, but try not to hurt them." Batman growled out finally.

Dark Falcon let out a shrill scream that told him she was starting to panic, along with being upset at his capture of her. This sound, however, also alerted Kid Flash, who in a blur of yellow, slammed into Flash and sent both speedsters sprawling.

Dark Falcon pulled herself off the ground and sent an electric batarang hurtling toward Batman, who quickly dispatched it with a razored edge of his glove. She flipped toward him and they began sparring, just like they'd done so many times in the Batcave.

Only this time, both had to be willing to hurt the other.

* * *

Flash felt the impact of his younger cousin as he slammed into him and sent the two toward the ground. He felt them roll five or six times before coming to a stop. They both leapt up and Kid Flash was the one who began the fighting, sending flying punches every which way.

Flash blocked the oncoming punches, but was hesitant to throw any of his own. All he could think of was the face of his own father. He could still remember the feel of the man's fist as it slammed into his stomach or as it knocked his head backward.

Could he bear to do the same to Bart?

He felt his hands tremble slightly with the thought.

Flash then began to realize that he was being pushed backward and into a wall. He'd have to fight back if he was going to help his friends. He didn't know why Kid Flash was acting like this, but he knew that he had to do something to keep him away from the others. The kid could do serious damage to some of the other Leaguers and looked as if he would if he got the chance.

Glancing over, he saw that Superman was still holding a recovering Kara, looking unsure as to whether or not he should join the fight. Honestly, Flash didn't want him to.

What if he hurt one of the two teenagers?

Then Flash began throwing punches back. The first few caught Kid Flash by surprise, catching the teen in the chin and sending him reeling backward. When he gathered himself, he came back with renewed vigor and they went at it, each landing a few hits on the other as they went at it.

All the while, Flash tried to bar the images that continued to flash in his brain- images of his dad and his own nightmarish childhood.

* * *

Dark Falcon bent backward as Batman threw a punch at her face and his hand hit only air. At first she was surprised at such a direct hit, normally he'd be careful to keep from really hitting her. But the stakes were different this time around and she was glad he would fight her back. She didn't want to hurt him because he refused to hurt her.

She dropped onto her back and rolled to her left, using the momentum of her roll to bring her up to her feet, before kicking out at Batman's side.

Batman grabbed her leg and pushed her backward where she hit the ground with a cry of pain.

It was then that she realized that Superman had laid down Supergirl and was now heading toward where the two speedsters were fighting in order to make it stop.

She'd been distracted temporarily by Supergirl's groaning nearby, but she was thankful it had alerted her to his having moved.

Pulling an explosive batarang out of her utility belt, she sent it flying through the air and it hit Superman's back with a smack before exploding, sending the Kryptonian staggering forward with the unexpected impact. If all else failed, it would at least warn Kid Flash that he was coming.

Batman was coming toward her at that point and she flipped her legs over her head in order to get in a standing position. She felt her knees trembling as she faced the prospect of fighting her surrogate father any longer, this was getting too hard.

Throwing herself at him, she threw four punches alternately at his face and stomach before he caught her hand and spun her arm around behind her back. He shoved her into the concrete wall, stomach first.

"Tell me what's happening, Falcon." Batman growled in her left ear. The more she struggled, the harder he pushed her.

"Don't forget that if you get caught, your brother dies." Luthor's voice cooed in her ear.

"Shut up!" she yelled, keeping the tears that stung the backs of her eyes from getting any further than that. She managed to get her other arm slightly loosed and elbowed his abs as hard as she could manage.

With a grunt of pain Batman let go for just a second, but just in time for her to slip from his grasp. She ran toward where Kid Flash and Flash were fighting next to a recovering Superman, who was looking incredibly annoyed.

"Kid Flash!" she yelled, effectively getting his attention at the cost of what looked like some amount of punches delivered from Flash. She pulled out a batarang at flicked her wrist again, heart quickening as she heard the thud of Batman's boots as he gained on her, and it broke apart midair, forming into two balls with a rope tied between that hit Flash's ankles and wrapped around them, dropping him like a sack of potatoes.

The sickening thud of Flash's body hitting the ground only caused the two to hesitate for a moment.

That's when Batman overtook Dark Falcon, tackling her and they both hit the ground hard. Batman's arm wrapping around the front of her head was the only thing that kept her head from cracking against the concrete. She knew on instinct that he'd done so with just that intent.

Nonetheless, her chin scraped against the ground and she hissed in pain as his weight bore down on her.

She glanced up in time to see Kid Flash pull out the gun that they'd been given and shoot two Kryptonite blasts at Superman, both knocking him backward, the third rendered him unconscious. He was still holding it when a black object flew threw the air and knocked it out of his hand.

Dark Falcon caught a glimpse of Nightwing as he jumped toward her yellow-clad comrade.

As Batman rolled off of her back, she rolled the opposite direction and jumped up. They were facing each other now and she did a back flip in an attempt to kick him in the jaw. He blocked both attmpts before she landed on her feet. Then she struggled to put away the mental image that had popped up of her biological father, coming at her with fists ready to pound her.

She heard herself whimper as she took a step backward and watched as Batman hesitated, both stood and stared at one another, each feeling immobile.

Nightwing, who was doing his best to avoid Kid Flash's flying punches, called out.

"What's going on, you two?"

He let out another grunt of pain as a punch connected with his middle before pulling out a gun-like mechanism that fired a gooey substance that the young speedster was temporarily trapped in.

"This isn't working!" she heard him yell as he pulled at the substance that was sucking at his boots. Only she knew that he wasn't talking to any of those present.

She took few more steps back, trying to figure out what to do while Kid Flash worked on vibrating through the gunk.

"Dark Falcon?" Nightwing's brow furrowed as he looked at her. "I thought you were supposed to be hurt."

"Say something!" Batman ground out, obviously getting fed up with the current situation.

"What do you two think you're doing?! Fight!" Luthor's voice shrieked through the communicator and she winced at the volume.

Thinking quickly, Dark Falcon executed a backflip and landed on top of a rather tall air conditioning unit before pulling out a few cryo pellets from her utility belt and throwing them at the gunk around his feet.

"Are you kidding me, he just-" Nightwing began, before realization dawned on him. "Oh." he finished lamely.

The gunk froze and made it a quick escape for Kid Flash, but Flash was already up and moving after wrestling with bat bolas. They formed 'battle lines' once again. Two on one side and the three older, and more experienced, heroes on the other.

"You're bleeding." Kid Flash pointed out.

"So are you." Dark Falcon responded gruffly. "When does this end?" she asked Luthor.

"Quiet, you two!" Luthor's voice growled. "It ends when I decide you're done. Finish it!"

"Where's everyone else?" Nightwing asked.

"Unconscious." Flash answered, lips forming a tight line.

Without warning, Dark Falcon pushed herself off of the air conditioning unit and did a flip in the air, intent on kicking her brother, whom she was silently willing to move out of the way or something.

Flash grabbed her hands once she was upside down and spun once, using the momentum to throw her into Kid Flash. Her back made contact with his middle as she flew horizontally through the air and slammed into him, causing both of them to tumble backward, finally coming to a stop a few feet away on the ground, both of their costumes a bit more torn up from the skidding.

If looks could kill, Flash would've died at that point. All four pairs of eyes turned deadly as they glared at him, the two that were fighting _with_ him softening slightly, but still looking indignant.

"Hey, I did what I had to do." he mumbled.

Dark Falcon rubbed the back of her head and wondered vaguely how her hair was still in a bun. It must be a mess.

Shaking her head, she turned in time to see Supergirl coming at her full speed.

Letting out a squeak of alarm, she rolled to the side just as the flying girl made to punch her.

"Yikes!" Dark Falcon mumbled, before yelling at Kid Flash. "That means the others will likely be up soon as well."

"We're outnumbered two to one!" he yelled at the communicator, voice fighting the desperation she was feeling herself. The odds were getting impossible- they were just rookies.

Dark Falcon spun around just in time to receive a punch to the gut from Supergirl that literally knocked her off her feet and into another air conditioning unit- denting it painfully.

The blonde woman grabbed the sides of her costume, looking her in the eyes.

"Tell us what's going on. We don't want to fight you."

"Right. Because we're winning." Dark Falcon responded facetiously.

A green light flooded her vision for a moment and Supergirl sank to her knees, revealing Kid Flash in the distance, who was now being engaged by Nightwing and Flash.

Dark Falcon jerked her knee up to connect with Supergirl's chin before kicking her backward and throwing an exploding batarang at Flash. He moved out of the way and it struck the ground near the three, the two speedsters managed to get away unfazed, but Dark Falcon watched in what felt like slow motion as she watched debris fly up and knock Nightwing backward.

"Nightwing!" she screamed as she watched in horrified fascination.

A pain-filled cry rang out when he was on the ground and he clutched his leg, still screaming in pain. Batman and Flash were immediately by his side and Dark Falcon made an attempt to run toward him before being stopped by Kid Flash.

She could still see what was happening, though, and when Nightwing's hands were pulled away from his leg by Batman, she saw the blood that covered them. And when her eyes travelled down to the leg that he'd been clutching, she saw the bone that protruded from the skin.

A heart-wrenching wail escaped from Dark Falcon's lips as the tears began to pour from her eyes. She began to weep as her knees gave way and she was caught by Kid Flash's arms. He lifted her back up and she clutched at his costume as her body shook with her sobs.

The three pairs of eyes looked back briefly, before going back to the injury.

"Well done, Dark Falcon. I'm afraid I underestimated you." Luthor's voice filtered through, velvety smooth with satisfaction.

"Shut up!" Kid Flash screamed, voice cracking with anger as he held the weeping girl. "Leave her alone!"

He swept her up in his arms, cradling her as she continued to weep, oblivious to what was going on around her now, and sped off. He ran down the side of the building and down a few streets before talking to Luthor again.

"We need pick-up now!" he growled. "We're done."

He whispered comforting words to the incosolable hero that was still cradled in his arms.

"It's okay, Falcon." he cooed. "Everything will be alright. We're going back to Robin now. He'll know what to do. Shh. It's gonna be okay."


	24. Guilt

_**Author's Note: I'd like to take this opportunity to let y'all know that I'm changing some of the information about Faith and Ollie, though I haven't gotten the chance to fix it in A Story of Faith. I didn't realize that I'd screwed up the timeline, and in keeping with the fact that I've already introduced Speedy in this series, I want to keep him in it.**_

_**So here's a little 'altered' history: Faith is 14 years younger than Oliver and 3 years younger than Roy. So their respective ages are Faith- 18, Roy-21, and Ollie- 32. **_

_**Also, instead of a brother/sister relationship between them, it's more of an uncle/niece type thing- which really seems to fit them alot better.**_

_**I suppose I'll have to go back and fix that in A Story of Faith, but it'll have to wait for now.**_

_**Now, let's get back to the story (which is mostly about Sapphire, anyway.)**_

_**Disclaimer: I cannot claim Kid Flash, Shayera, Nightwing, Flash, Speedy, Lian Harper, Poison Ivy, Green Arrow, Black Canary, Lois Lane, Wonder Woman, Superman, Supergirl, Slade, or Shade. I'm afraid that only two characters sprouted from my own imagination- Dark Falcon and Faith.**_

_**P.S. Shay (when in reference to Shayera) is pronounced 'shy'.**_

**Chapter 24- Guilt**

Kid Flash helped get Dark Falcon into the helicopter. She'd calmed a bit, refusing to let him carry her any longer, but she was still shaking from the obvious trauma of hurting one of her family members.

He wasn't really sure if they were related or not, but if her previous display meant anything, they were at least pretty close.

Helping her get into her seat, he suddenly became aware of his own aches and pains. His costume was quite ripped up, as was hers, and he could suddenly feel every spot where his cousin had been able to get a good punch in.

"Aww. Does the birdie miss her family?" Poison Ivy mocked her with fake sympathy, reaching a vine over to pet the younger redhead's cheek.

Kid Flash managed to swat it away before Dark Falcon could, the latter leaning her head on his shoulder for support and barely stifling the sobs that threatened to pour forward.

"Back off, Ivy." he growled.

"Even better. The bird has a boyfriend." she laughed, though no one joined her. Shade sat nearby, uninterested in the banter, while Kid Flash just glared.

It was then that he noticed the third person. A woman with black hair and violet eyes sat between the two supervillians with her hands tied in front of her and a cloth gagging her. She wore a black dress suit that told him she'd just gotten off of work. The weird thing was that she didn't look scared at having been captured by two villians, she just looked annoyed.

"Who is she?" he asked, changing the subject.

"Why, I would think anyone would recognize Lois Lane when they saw her." Shade commented dryly.

This caused Dark Falcon's head to shoot up and look at the captive.

Looking indignant, Lois eyed Shade with a raised eyebrow.

"Oh alright. It's not like you could escape from this height anyway." he finally aquiesced her unspoken demands by untying her.

When he did, she sat back and crossed her arms across her chest, looking quizzically at the two teenagers.

"Kid Flash? And you're Batman's new sidekick, Dark Falcon, right?" she asked.

"Bingo." Kid Flash responded flatly.

"What're you two doing here?"

"We were captured too." Dark Falcon finally spoke up, sounding tired and strained. "Luthor's using us to do his dirty work."

Lois gave a short nodded before dropping the subject and the helicopter cabin grew quiet.

* * *

The seven leaguers were transported quickly and efficiently to the Watchtower and Batman picked up his son before turning to J'onn.

"Check on the others. Nightwing needs medical care now." he ground out, worry for his son overshadowing any he might've felt for the others who were still back there.

"Slade..." Nightwing ground out, teeth clenched as he tried to fight off the pain.

"What?!" Batman asked as he winded through corridors, glaring fiercely at anyone who dared to move out of his way too slowly. He hadn't expected Nightwing to say that name and it startled him into focusing. He felt his blood boil at the mere mentioning of that man.

"Slade...Sapph...Kid Flash." he responded as he nearly ran headlong into the medical team that was rushing toward the transporters. One of the men pushing a gurney stopped and signalled for Batman to lay the boy down.

He did so quickly and carefully, making sure not to jar the young man's leg.

"What do you mean? You think Slade is behind this? How?"

Flash, who had just come up to them holding a still unconscious Shayera, placed her on the gurney and then started to panic.

"Oh no! Slade's back?? How did he do it this time?? What are we gonna do??" he asked, eyes going wide.

Nightwing managed to crack a small grin and looked at Batman.

"No, Slade's not... back. You'll figure it out,... Dad." he said before succumbing to the pain and falling unconscious.

The medical teams started to wheel their two patients off.

Batman stood, slightly stunned at his son. He'd never called him 'Dad' before. None of his kids had. He realized that this meant he and his son were on the road to a recovered relationship. The thought nearly made him smile.

"How are the others?" he finally asked Flash, who was still standing beside him. He noted that the younger boy was shaking and furrowed his brow at him.

"They've got nasty headaches, but nothing more. Shay's the one I'm worried about." he responded, putting a small smile on his face. "She could have internal damage for all I know. She's pretty battered."

Batman eyed the red speedster after giving a brisk nod, wondering briefly why the boy looked so shaken.

"You should rest."

" 'Kay." was his only response before he was gone in a red blur.

_Slade._

"Why would he say Slade?" Batman asked himself aloud as he began walking toward the Medbay.

In his mind's eye, he recalled the footage from Wayne Industries that he'd seen after Dick had broken in as Robin. Slade had been blackmailing him, telling him he would kill the other Titans if the boy didn't meet his requests.

The footage had shown Robin fight his teammates, dispatching each quickly, while they tried to reason with him. Finally, Starfire stood in his way and when he hesitated, they started to drop like flies. Only after Robin's inaudible pleas with the unseen villian, were they restored to health and their fighting renewed until Robin disappeared.

It all started to move into place and Batman felt like he ought to lose his title as detective with how obvious it was.

_"Nothing's okay anymore."_

The way neither teen would speak to them plainly...

_"When does this end?" _

Their hesitance to fight...

_"We're outnumbered two to one!" _

Sapphire's whimpering when he was going to hit her...

_"Shut up! Leave her alone!" _

And her panic when Nightwing was hurt...

They were being used as pawns and likely, Tim's life was the one hanging in the balance.

* * *

Robin paced in his cell again, annoyed by manacles that weighed down his arms and kept him from doing much more than dragging his arms along with him. He wished he had his utility belt right now, but it had been removed before he'd woken up that... morning? He wasn't sure how long they'd been here, but he was getting frustrated with just how much he 'wasn't sure' of.

He heard footsteps approaching again and his eyes narrowed as he faced the direction they were coming from.

The first person he saw was Kid Flash, chin looking like it was sporting a bruise or two and with a shallow gash on his left arm. His costume was torn on parts of his thighs an arm, where he guess he'd skidded across the ground and the abrasions had already healed due to his super speed. His expression looked both angry and concerned.

Robin didn't know why until Dark Falcon came in after him, shoved forward by Shade's staff as if she was some sort of cattle.

Her hair was falling out of the bun she'd put it in just before their capture and she had a bruise on her right cheek. Her face was red and was shiny in some parts like she'd been crying. Her chin was bleeding from an abrasion, as well as parts of her thighs and arms from skidding on concrete.

He eyed her right arm to make sure her cast hadn't splintered again, but when he noticed it was fine, he still felt anxiety build up in him as he tried to piece together what had happened.

He barely registered the fact that a third person was behind them. They stopped and allowed themselves to be manacled.

"What did you do to her?!" he snarled, fists against the glass as they began walking the two girls over to where he was.

No one answered him as they shoved Kid Flash into his cell, the boy turning to watch his fellow inmates as they shoved in Dark Falcon and the third.

Both girls hit their knees with the force of the shoves and the older woman stood up indignantly.

"Oh, if I could get my hands on your scrawny little neck!" she threatened Shade, who turned away without bothering to respond.

Robin knelt down to Dark Falcon, who sounded like she was gasping for air as she leaned on her hands and knees.

"Falcon, what's wrong? What did they do to you?" he asked gently as he pulled her into a sitting position. His blood boiled at the thought of someone hurting his sister.

"I broke him, Robin. I broke him." she said, looking at him eyes full of tears. She bit her lip to keep herself from crying again.

"I need you to tell me what happened or I can't help." he told her sincerely, worry beginning to eat him up. Just who had she 'broken' and how did it get her in this state? Sapphire hated to cry and the fact that she was crying on his shoulder didn't console him much.

Kid Flash spoke up from across the glass encasing.

"I'll explain. They had us fight the Justice League." he began. This seemed to interest Lois and she sat down with her back against the door so she could listen. "We did surprisingly well- mostly because they weren't expecting us to attack, I guess. We took out Wonder Woman and Shayera pretty quickly, though I'm worried I might've hurt her." there was a shuffling of his feet at that confession and he coughed awkwardly before continuing. "Then I had to fight Flash and she fought Batman, but helped when Superman came after me. It wasn't long after that that Nightwing showed up and Supergirl woke up. She attacked Dark Falcon, but I shot the Kryptonite blaster at her and then Dark Falcon threw an exploding batarang that hit near Nightwing."

Robin sucked in a breath of shock and his heart rate sped up considerably as his eyes went wide underneath his mask.

"And?"

"When we left, Nightwing's got at least a compound fracture in his right leg. Let's just say it didn't look too pleasant." he answered, grimacing. "Dark Falcon was inconsolable after that, so I picked her up and we sped off. Luckily, Luthor had decided that it was a great ending." he finished, spitting out the name with disgust.

"Is that all that was wrong with him? Did he get immediate medical care?" This question didn't come from Robin, but this time was from the violet-eyed woman on his left. He noted her look of genuine concern before he realized who it was.

"Lois." he said aloud nodding his head in acknowledgement. He'd learned about Bruce's history with her pretty quickly, considering she was usually invited to his parties. She knew all about them, he realized.

"The one and only." she responded dryly.

"Flash and Batman went to him immediately. I can only assume that they would take proper care of him." Kid Flash responded, running a hand through his wild red/brown hair.

"It's not your fault, Falcon. Nightwing'll make it through, he always does." Robin tried to reassure his sister, feeling like he was failing miserably. She didn't answer.

"My weakness theory is definitely holding up if Lois is here." he spoke again, feeling relieved that his brother was at least being taken care of.

Dark Falcon sat up and wiped at her tears, looking a bit annoyed as to the state she'd been in.

_Good ol' Sapph._ he thought with a smile. It was doubtless that she'd be beating herself up about it for a good few months at the least, but she was sucking it up for now, getting her mind in gear for what was ahead.

"Makes sense." she responded.

"What?" Lois asked, getting tired of being out of the loop. Let's just say it wasn't a welcome feeling to the all-star reporter.

"We think that the reason we've been kidnapped is because we're the Founding Members' weaknesses. Flash, Batman, Superman." Robin responded, pointing to each in turn.

"Great. Another revenge scheme that they've dragged me into." Lois grumbled, rolling her eyes. "Don't they know I have an article due tomorrow morning? Perry's gonna kill me."

He watched Kid Flash look at her as if she were insane and Dark Falcon's left eyebrow arched in response to her woes.  
"We've been captured by a gang of supervillians and are being used to get back at the Justice League and you're worried about a deadline?" the younger girl asked.

"I have my priorities." the older shrugged.

* * *

Flash sped into the cafeteria and grabbed four iced mochas before settling himself at an empty table, which was quite an uncharacteristic move for the normally social speedster. The action caused a few other brightly-clad heroes to send him questioning glances, but feeling too jittery to bother talking he just pasted on another smile which we sent their way before settling down for his drink.

"Roy, I'm serious!" he heard Faith's voice from around the hallway, the doorway being right behind him. "You've got to stop having such late nights. I know I volunteered to watch Lian when you're out, but she needs her father to be around more."

"I know how to take care of my daughter, Faith." he answered her, sounding annoyed but slightly amused at the same time.

Faith let out a deep sigh as the two entered the cafeteria. She could be seen rubbing her forehead.

"Just try to be home a bit more, please. Your daughter needs you, she may be an infant- but she knows when you're gone."

"Mmhmm."

Flash was interrupted in his eavesdropping when Booster Gold sat down next to him. Apparently having forgotten their last encounter, which ended with Flash yelling at he and Enlongated Man, he began chatting away.

"So your girlfriend's talking to Mr. Playboy over there. Not a good sign." he began, eating a fry from the tray he'd brought with him. "That Speedy guy is always movin' in on the girls. Of course, they only go for him because I'm not available. Got a girl back home, you know."

Flash very seriously doubted this guy had anyone that wasn't related back home. He could hardly stand sitting next to him for three minutes without gaining a headache.

"You know I've known him for years, right?" he asked, hoping Booster would catch the hint that he didn't want to talk about his friend. Honestly, ever since Roy first started doing heroin, he hadn't seen much of him, though. He was glad he'd finally gotten clean with Black Canary's help and had rejoined the world of superheroics. And just in time too, now that he had Lian, he had to keep clean. He had too much responsibility to shirk it this time without serious consequences.

"Which is why you, of all people, should be keeping your eye out for suspicious activity between the two of them! You know how he really is." Booster Gold continued on.

Honestly, Flash thought that the gold-clad hero couldn't have picked a worse time to butt in, because we was getting more annoyed than usual today. Clenching his teeth and his right hand, he closed his eyes, only to send them flying back open again when his mind showed him a picture of his father coming at him with his arm drawn backward.

"Faith won't get herself into any trouble." he said through clenched teeth, letting out a shaky sigh and downing his second iced mocha.

"Besides, Roy's my cousin. He's pretty much the annoying cousin that picks on you like an older brother." Faith entered the conversation, having overheard the last of it as she sat down. Booster mumbled something about having to go do something, looking sheepish at being overheard, before running off.

In all honesty, Roy was her cousin. Ollie had somehow convinced Batman to create files showing that Oliver had a brother, whose wife had given birth to young Aaralyn before they'd both been lost in a horrible railway accident. She'd been lost in the foster care system until her uncle finally found her and now she was living with him at his mansion in Star City.

Roy lived nearby with Lian and would come over often, though she often wondered why. He and Oliver weren't on good terms in the slightest- but he enjoyed being around she and Dinah (who was often there during the day, instead of her own home), so he'd show up anyway. Plus Ollie couldn't refuse the chance to play with his granddaughter. Of course, if asked, he was far too young to be a grandfather and it was another of Roy's irresponsible actions that made things this way.

But to the media's eye, the Queens (and Dinah) all got along perfectly well and were often with one another in public. Though there was some speculation going around about why Oliver and Roy never did anything together that didn't include the others, and usually weren't seen speaking to one another.

"Thanks." Flash told her, referring to Booster's retreating form. "So what were you two talking about anyway?"

"Roy was out late last night, partying, and didn't come pick up Lian until two in the morning. She and I had fallen asleep on my bed and he scared the pee out of me when I woke up to see a man pulling her out of bed. I very nearly attacked him."

Flash couldn't hide his grin at that.

"That's why I wasn't up here sooner this morning, he scared me so bad that I didn't go to bed for another two hours because I was wide awake. Anyway, he says he'll take me to go see the Gotham Knights soccer game against the Star City Warriors this weekend- to make up for the trouble, but I'm still worried about him." she explained, placing her chin on her open hand.

"Aren't we all?" Flash quipped, with a small smile. He slid one of the iced mochas over to her, which she took thankfully, before he downed his last one.

"How'd the 'bait' thing go? I haven't seen any little bats around here." she commented, swirling the liquid in the cup with her straw.

"It was a disaster." he answered, heart feeling gloomy at the mentioning of it. "Something's going on with Bart and the others. He and Dark Falcon attacked us and fared very well, especially since none were expecting that and they weren't quite sure what to do, but Nightwing and Shayera are in the medical bay."

Faith stared at him in horror.

"Are they all right?" she questioned, worriedly.

"I hope so. Nightwing's got a compound fracture on his right leg and I'm worried that Shay's got internal bleeding." He closed his eyes again and repeated the same action he'd done earlier in sending them flying back open. This time it'd been a picture of him punching Bart, rather than his own dad punching Wally. "Look, I'm gonna go back to my room. I'm super worn out. I'll see you later, Faith." he sped off without waiting for an answer.

When he got back to his room, he was true to his word and fell across the bed, trying to find sanctuary in what proved to be a restless slumber.


	25. Silence

_**Author's Note: The plot thickens!!!**_

_**Disclaimer: Everyone except Wally/Flash, Kid FLash/Bart, Robin/Tim, Nightwing/Dick, J'onn, Green Lantern/John Stuart, and Batman/Bruce Wayne are mine. Which doesn't leave a whole lot of characters, but enough that I'd rather not list them too. Oh, and the story Flash tells is from JL:The Brave and the Bold, so that didn't come from my brain either.**_

**Chapter 25- Silence**

_"Why won't you talk to me?  
I'd tell you anything  
Oh don't push me away  
I want to know you  
I want to know you"_

_-Wanna Know You by Manafest_

Wally woke an hour later and still wasn't quite sure what to do with himself. He wanted to go check on Shayera and Dick, but the risk of running into Faith or John was enough to keep him in his room. The two of them would be keeping a close eye on him and he couldn't deal with that right now. And while John's worry could be easily put to rest, he wasn't very good at getting away with lying to Faith.

Running a hand through his bedraggled orange hair, he walked over the the bedside table and grabbed the Bible he'd bought aroud six months ago after he'd become a Christian. Pulling it open, he read a few chapters in Psalms before closing it two minutes later, because that was all it had taken him to get through it.

Normally, reading it would bring peace and settle his nerves, but right now his nerves were too frazzled to pay attention to the words, so with an annoyed sigh, he stood and pulled his cowl over his upper face.

The seven had decided a few months ago that it was best if they didn't go running around without their masks, so that action was banned. Wally was the one who'd often been chastised for it, but now he complied because he understood why the rule was in place and had actually voted for it. The Watchtower had been infiltrated before and so had it's systems, it just wasn't wise to let the other heroes learn your secrets like that.

And if one of them went rogue, it could be the end of that 'secret' identity altogether.

Flash didn't want to let go of Wally. He couldn't lose that part of him.

He slid the door open and sped down the hallways, zipping past the brightly colored men and women who volunteered their precious time to save the earth each and every day. After flashes of red, yellow, gold, and purple, he finally found his way to the Medical Bay and skidded to a stop in front of one of the windows.

J'onn was inside, typing away at a computer and setting up equipment beside two empty beds.

_You can come in._ John's telepathic voice broke through his thoughts. Apparently, the martian had seen him.

The red speedster started, then recovered himself and headed into the room.

"Where are they?" he asked, eyeing the bed hesitantly.

"Both are in surgery. Your assumptions about Shayera were correct- she does have internal bleeding and they're going in to close up any veins that have opened up, as well as get rid of the leaked blood. She'll have to get stitches and won't be seeing any duty for a while.

"Nightwing had to have his tibia reset and they may have to put a small titanium rod in to keep it aligned while it heals. Either way it looks like he will be in a cast for a few months." J'onn explained, watching him for his reaction.

Wally grimaced at the facts. He hated seeing his friends hurt. He hated knowing that it had been caused by people he cared about. Bart had done this to Shayera. He'd hurt her, badly, and Wally couldn't help but blame himself. He'd put too much pressure on the boy so early...

He wondered how Dick would feel when he woke up. Sapphire was his little sister and she was the one who broke his leg so badly. Yet she'd been aiming for Flash, not Nightwing, and the realization made him hang his head.

_Why can't I do anything right?_

"It's not your fault, Wally." J'onn reminded him sympathetically, this apparently being one of those rare times when the martian chose to use his real name.

"Uh-huh." he responded with a non-commital grunt before dashing off again.

* * *

Robin watched Dark Falcon with a worried expression as she rebraided her hair and pulled it back up into a tidy bun again. She'd stopped crying not long after she'd started, but now she would hardly say a word, only giving a short response when asked to give one.

Kid Flash was even beginning to worry him. He was pacing his cell rapidly while ringing his hands. He wasn't quite sure what was going on with the other boy, though he guessed it had something to do with worry about what he'd done to Shayera. Could it also be the slowing down of his body? It made Robin wonder if his hyper-accelerated mind could make him go crazy if he were contained for too long. The idea of it made him cringe.

Either way, he had to get them all talking again, otherwise both of them really would drive themselves crazy with their obviously dark thoughts.

He racked his brain for something, anything he could use.

"You know, I've always wanted to change my last name." he finally broke the silence. Three pairs of eyes turned to him curiously. No one took the bait. "I've always wanted to change it to our father's name."

Still no one spoke, but everyone was still looking at him, so he took that as a good sign.

"What about you, Falcon?" he asked.

She closed her eyes quietly and leaned her head back against the glass, "Me too." she answered quietly. "I don't much care for my current one."

Silence prevailed again and Robin began to rack his brain again before Lois spoke up.

"Have you told him that? Your father, I mean." she asked, trying to make it appear as if she didn't know their secret. Though both were silently glad that she had her back to the security cameras.

"No." he answered honestly. He'd never found reason to tell him or to bring it up, but he'd much rather be Tim Wayne than Tim Drake. He'd rather not be reminded of his father's betrayal of him. And he could understand how Sapphire held the same sentiments.

"Well you should. I think he'd like to hear it. What parent wouldn't?" she responded, violet eyes smiling with the information. The idea made him smile. Bruce really would like it if he changed his name? She knew Bruce pretty well, from what he'd gathered from the information on the Batcomputer, so she would know. The thought brought him a certain measure of comfort.

He looked over at Dark Falcon, whose eyes were still closed,and saw a smile form on her pale face, but it left almost as quickly as it arrived- seemingly pushed away by darker thoughts.

"We're going to make it out of this guys." He finally said, taking charge of the situation. "We're going to get through this and everything's going to be fine." he told them firmly.

Dark Falcon let out a sigh and rested her head on his shoulder.

"I hope you're right, Robin. Oh, I hope you're right."

* * *

Faith shivered as she flew through the air above the buildings in downtown Central City. Winter, being in full swing, clung to the city with cold fury and she couldn't help but wish she'd brought a coat. She was just thankful that Central hadn't started snowing yet, or she'd really be in trouoble due to lack of planning ahead.

Flying into building that had been her destination, she rubbed her hands together rapidly just in time to be greeted by the woman that ran Central City's Orphanage.

"Faith!" she smiled warmly. "How are you today? Come to play with the children?" The older woman asked. She was a heavyset woman with salt and pepper hair tied up in a bun. The wrinkles on her face betrayed years of smiles and laughter that made her that much more beautiful, in her opinion. Her gray eyes had a motherly feel to them that always made Faith feel right at home.

"Good evening, Mrs. Laveque." Faith smiled warmly as she put her hands on her face to warm the exposed skin. She was thankful that the mask hiding her identity had also kept that bit of her face out of the wind. "Of course, I'd love to play with the kids for a bit, though I'm actually looking for Flash. I thought he might be here."

The older woman shook her head.

"No, I haven't seen him today. Not yet, anyway, but I'll let you know if he drops by. I wouldn't want you to miss him." she smiled as she began leading the way to where some of the kids were watching a movie. Her expression saddened a little. "I'm glad you're here, Faith. Ever since the kids heard about Kid Flash's disappearance, they've been terribly upset, as they always are when one of you is in danger."

"We're all upset." she answered honestly. "We're all very worried about him."

Still, she had to smile at the children's concern for her as well as the Flashes. After only six months, these kids had already warmed up to her amazingly. Though she was mainly a League hero, she often came with Flash to Central City and she couldn't help but smile when one of the kids had pointed out that Flash had a crush on her. They hadn't let it go ever since.

"Kids, Faith is here to watch a movie with you." Mrs. Laveque told them with a bright smile.

The eight children who had been previously arguing over whether to watch Cinderella or The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe stopped what they were doing to greet her with an onslaught of hugs.

"It's nice to see you too." she answered their hugs with a smile. Sitting down on a black bean bag, she asked, "Now what movie are we watching?"

Mrs. Laveque left to get some cookies and the children suddenly began a second argument on which movie they ought to watch.

"Miss Faiff shud pick." a little blonde boy named Billy said, tugging on her long sleeved-shirt gently. "You pick."

The rest of the children were silent and nodded, realizing this was the best solution.

Faith squinted her eyes and put her chin on her hand like she was thinking real hard, causing a few of the girls to giggle.

"I think Cinderella might be too girly for some of these men in here." she finally decided, ruffling Ben's copper hair and looking apologetically at the girls. "I'm going to go with Narnia."

"Yay!" the boys and one girl celebrated as they settled onto their respective bean bags and Jen put in the correct movie.

The cookies arrived about the time that the movie started and effectively silenced them all, except for the sound of munching, particularly from the boys whose mouths coudn't seem to stay closed while they chewed.

Halfway into the movie, Mrs. Laveque stood in the doorway and motioned for Faith to come out. Billy had fallen asleep in her lap and she adjusted him in her arms so that she could easily carry him, before silently standing and floating over to where the woman stood, so as not to distract the others from the movie.

"What's up?" she whispered as she set her feet on the ground again.

"Flash is here, he's reading to some of the boys in the library room. He ought to be finishing up in a few minutes. It's not long until their bedtimes."

"I'll go put this one to sleep and then I'll be right there." she told her, smile widening on her face.

Walking down the hallway, she found the room he shared with four other boys his age. Gently she laid him on the edge of the bed and changed the almost three year-old into his pajamas before settling him under the covers.

She grabbed his teddy and secured it underneath his right arm before leaning down and pressing a kiss against his forehead. Then she floated out of the room and shut the door gently before making her way toward the library room.

She said a prayer for the precious boy as she walked, she hoped the sweet child would find a home with loving parents that would take good care of him.

When Faith reached the library room, no one took notice of her, so she slipped into the back corner and sat in a chair and listened to the story. Apparently, Flash had finished early and he was now recounting a tale from his work in the Justice League.

"So then I banged his metal helmet down over his eyes and hit it a few times, but what he didn't know is that I switched some of the wires in it." he said, demonstrating by waving his arms around. "So then he yelled at me and I told him that I could fight him man on well, gorilla, if he just took off his helmet. He laughed and so I pulled off my circlet that protected me from his mind control and threw it across the room. He tried to use the mind-power thing on me and it short-circuited and fried his brains."

"Really?" a dark haired boy asked, eyes wide.

"Mm-hmmm. Though he ended up un-frying it later and caused more trouble for the League, but we can handle him."

"What happened to the city of gorillas?" a little hispanic girl asked.

"We saved them." he shrugged. "And now they're safe, though we almost lost Wonder Woman in the progress, but she ended up being okay."

It was then that Mrs. Laveque came into the room and shooed the children out, reminding them that it was past their bedtimes. Some argued, but most were too tired to do even that.

"Thank you, Flash. I can tell they really enjoyed that." she told him.

"No problem, ma'am. I enjoyed it." he smiled in response.

She nodded and headed out of the room.

Flash leaned back with a sigh in the chair he'd been sitting in. Faith crossed her arms across her chest before speaking.

"Needed to get your mind off some things?" she asked quietly.

The startled speedster almost fell out of his chair before he realized who it was.

"Can we talk?" she asked standing and walking over to him. She held out her hand and let a small smile grace her face. "Please?"

He made no move to take her hand, only groaned and placed his head in his hands.

"Flash, something's wrong and it's about more than Kid Flash getting kidnapped. Please talk to me." she said, voice beginning to crack with the strain.

Still he wouldn't speak. His body began to shake, more like vibrate, but it was subtle.

"Look, I want you to know that I'm here for you. I just want to help. Bottling all your emotions up and pasting a smile over them isn't going to help you heal- it's just like putting a bandaid over an infected gash that needs stitches, it only hinders the healing process. Whatever it is- your past, something you've done, _whatever_. You know I'm here for you. Just please, don't block me out." she pleaded.

His body shook harder and he shot up to standing position, face twisted in anger as he pushed her away from him. The force of his shove knocked her onto her rear and she stared at him, wide-eyed, as she stood back up.

"Just leave me alone! Butt out!" He raised his voice. His body continued to vibrate rapidly as he stalked toward her and she took a few steps back in horror.

"Flash, I'm only trying to help." she said, tears beginning to fall down her face, as the middle of her mask scrunched together as if she were furrowing her brow beneath it. "What's happening to you?"

"Nothing's happening to me!" He yelled this time. "Nothing's wrong with me! Just leave me alone! Get away from me! Stop interfering in business that's not yours!"

She was backed up against the wall now and sobbing, tears streaming from beneath her mask as he shook with rage.

"I don't understand, Flash." she cried. "Please, please stop. You're scaring me."

"No, you don't understand." he replied simply and coldly, jaw setting hard. He drew back his arm and thrust it forward. Faith's eyes shut tightly so she wouldn't have to see it coming at her face. When nothing happened, she opened them again and saw his red gloved fist had stopped less than an inch from her face.

His hand dropped to his side, "Of course you don't." he said sadly. He backed up a few feet, looking at her in horror before turning and running away in a blur of red.

Faith sunk to the ground and let her tears fall freely.


	26. Nightmares and Flashbacks

_**Author's Note: So I was searching on Wikipedia, because I remembered this episode where Batman told Amanda Waller that there were only four people rich enough for the equipment (Lex) was using and three of them were on the Watchtower. So I was trying to find out who the third is (since the first 2 are obviously Bruce and Ollie) when I found out that the JLA had a member named Faith at one point, only she was completely different than my OC! Weirdness right? **_

_**Get ready for this chapter, it's got a lot of craziness. And it's pretty long too.**_

_**Disclaimer: If you've been reading the disclaimers, you know who's mine and who's not.**_

**Chapter 26- Nightmares and Flashbacks**

__

"Smell the roses, throw them down.

Just whisper, don't make a sound.

Don't want the world to know the truth-

You've been broken and abused."

-Amy Says by Flyleaf

"Who can I call?" Mrs. Laveque asked, patting the younger woman's shoulder comfortingly.

The two were sitting in the kitchen now, Faith holding a tissue and feeling completely lost. It had been half an hour since Flash had stormed out. After calming a few of the kids who had heard the fuss, the older woman had brought her into the kitchen and away from the little prying eyes that wanted to know why their older playmate was crying.

"W-what do you mean?" Faith asked, looking up from her lap where she was still trying to figure out what had happened back there.

"Look, I don't know what you're fight with the Flash was about, but you're awfully upset and I'm not just gonna send you out alone. Who can I call to come pick you up?" she said firmly.

"I don't need anyone to pick me up." she resisted, not wanting anyone to see her in this state or find out about what had just happened.

Mrs. Laveque's gray eyes shone dangerously.

"Young lady, you're in no condition to go out by yourself. Now call someone or you're going to have to spend the night here."

Faith's eyes shut tight with grim annoyance, she knew she could easily bust out of here on her own but she couldn't resist this woman whom reminded her so much of what a mother ought to be. She was the only mother figure Faith could claim, so finally she let out a sigh.

"Fine." she had the perfect person in mind to get her. And hopefully, he would pick today to be Mr. Oblivious. The older woman smiled as Faith reached up and tapped her communicator.

"Mr. Terrific?" she asked tentatively, trying to keep the sorrow out of her voice.

"Yes, Faith. What is it?"

She paused, wondering how on earth she was going to word this.

"Look, I'm sorry. I know we're not supposed to use the line for anything less than an emergency, but is there any way you could teleport Speedy to my coordinates?" she asked quietly, wishing she hadn't relented to the older woman. "Is he there?"

At least it was Mr. Terrific instead of J'onn, the latter would've made her explain the cause of her need.

"Sure thing, Faith. The roster says he ought to be onboard right now. ETA two minutes."

"Thanks."

"No problem."

And the connection was cut.

"You happy now?" she asked the older woman as she folded her arms and rested her head in them on the table.

"Yes." she responded, sitting down next to her and patting her back gently.

Faith bit her lip to hold back the sobs that threatened to come up again.

_What's gotten into him?_ she thought angrily. _He was going to HIT me!_

Her body was shaking again. Not with the anger that Wally had exhibited earlier, but with suppressed sobs and something akin to fear. He had terrified her back there. That was a side of him that she'd never seen and she doubted few ever had. It wasn't like him- wasn't in his nature.

So why did he do it?

A flash of blue light shook her from her thoughts as a red-clad archer materialized next to the counter. He clutched his stomach with annoyance.

"I will never get used to that thing." he announced. His mask furrowed as he looked around and caught sight of Faith and an older woman sitting at the table. "Mr. T said you needed me?" he asked, the left side of his mask raising with the question.

Faith pressed her lips together trying to figure out what to tell him. She hadn't thought that far into it.

"I just needed someone to take me home." she responded lamely, voice choking slightly, much to her annoyance. He wasn't going to fall for that, she knew.

His eyes narrowed. "You've been crying." It was a statement, not a question.

"No I haven't."

"Liar." he responded shortly. "What happened?"

Leave it to Roy to be the epitome of insensitivity when he was worried about you.

_You should've called Dinah, stupid._

To her further annoyance, it was Mrs. Laveque that spoke next.

"She and Flash got into a fight in the library room. I only heard alot of yelling, mostly one-sided, and then he left. She was on the floor crying when I came in." the woman confided quickly, before the brunette beside her could interrupt.

"One-sided? Who was doing the yelling?" he bristled, walking closer to the two.

The older woman hesitated, pushing a salt and pepper lock of hair behind her ear before she spoke.

"Flash." she answered quietly. Roy's jaw set angrily at the admission.

Faith put her hand over her mouth as a sob threatened to burst forth and she turned her head away.

Speedy softened and placed a hand on Mrs. Laveque's shoulder.

"I'll take her home. Don't worry about it." he reassured her before going to the younger girl's side.

"Come on, Faith." he held out a hand.

She took it and let him pull her up, locking her arm with his when she was standing.

"Thank you for everything, Mrs. Laveque." she told her quietly.

"Your welcome anytime, Faith." she answered before Speedy led her out the door.

Once they had cleared the orphanage, Faith let out a small groan. Speedy had decided to not be oblivious today. Great.

_

* * *

_

Dark shapes moved eerily around her and Sapphire felt as if the oxygen had been sucked from her lungs. Spinning around in the shadows, she heard the fear in her own voice as she called, "Show yourself!"

_It was her 'Dark Falcon' voice, but right now she wasn't in uniform. Dressed in tattered jeans and a ripped up shirt, she wondered why she felt like her body was bruised and torn. How had she gotten here in the first place? _

_It was then that two dark forms slipped from the shadows and stopped on her left and her right. Seeing their faces, her eyes blazed. Her father and Braden gave menacing snarls before going at her like animals. _

_Sapphire swung and flipped, executing moves that Bruce had taught her in their training, only making a sound when one of them managed to hit her._

_Then their faces changed._

_Twisting and morphing, suddenly they both had black hair. Suddenly her father had blue eyes and Braden had brown ones. With stunning revelation, Sapphire swallowed hard._

_Bruce and Dick stood before her with maniacal grins on their faces and she backed up into a tree._

_"You broke me, Sapphire. You hurt me." Dick spoke with an oozing coldness that chilled her bones. _

_"I didn't mean to." she pleaded. "I didn't want to hurt you. He made me!"_

_"No one hurts my son." Bruce snarled, getting closer. "No one!" _

_"I'm sorry." she began to sob. "Please, I'm sorry." _

_Dick flew at her and kicked her in the stomach, robbing her of her breath as she slumped against the hard bark and tried to breath. Bruce grabbed her arm and threw her over his head and she hit the ground with a pained cry._

_"Please stop!" she screamed as Dick kicked her in the stomach and she rolled across the grass and mud that made up the floor of wherever it was they were fighting. Pulling herself onto her knees, she received a kick to her face that sent her onto her back and she coughed violently before feeling a cold hand wrap around her neck. It lifted her up and slammed her against another tree with incredible force. She screamed at the top of her lungs before running out of air and clawing at the hands that held her above the ground._

_"You promised." she whispered the man who had taken her in and protected her for the past few months. "You promised." _

_"I lied."_

"Falcon!" a voice yelled loudly and the girl responded by sitting up abruptly, breath coming in short gasps.

She opened her eyes to see Kid Flash in the opposite cell staring at her with his hands against the glass that separated them.

She felt something slide down her face and realized she was crying again. She tried to calm her breathing as she wiped the tear tracks away, albeit with difficulty due to the manacles that held her lower arms in place.

"Are you okay?" he asked, voice only slightly muffled by the glass between them. She nodded, though she knew she wasn't and he didn't seem very convinced.

"Just a nightmare." she told him as she sat up and looked around. She panicked when she realized she was the only one. "Where's Robin? And where's Lois?" she looked around franticly.

"Didn't look like 'just a nightmare' to me." he said adamantly. "Don't you remember what happened? Star Sapphire took them with her. You tried to stop them and got slammed into the wall, knocked out instantly. Robin pretty much freaked, just so you know."

The memory of the events came back to her and explained the throbbing her head was doing. She touched the back of her head and grimaced. _That's gonna leave a bruise._

"So what was it about?" The kid across from her asked, speaking of her dream again and sitting down cross-legged and leaning his chin on his palms.

"Nothing."

"Because I always scream, cry, and plead when I dream about nothing too." he snorted. He then seemed to rethink that approach and turned more serious. "Really, what's wrong? Who were you saying sorry to? And why were they hurting you?"

Dark Falcon turned away and cursed herself mentally for talking in her sleep. She let out an unintelligible grunt and tugged on her cape absent-mindedly.

"If you don't tell me, I'll tell Robin and you'll _still_ have to tell- only your brother will be there and so will Lois."

She whirled on him, eyes glinting dangerously beneath her mask. They were both standing now and she had her face so close to the glass that it was nearly touching. She glared at him.

"You wouldn't dare." she snarled.

"Would so." he responded with a smirk.

She bristled, brushing away some of the red bangs that had fallen in her face as she continued to glare. But glare was all she could do. She couldn't storm away or threaten him with bodily injury or even throw a batarang that the annoyingly persistent speedster. The glass between them could only be penetrated by their voices and their eyes.

"You have no right to blackmail me." she seethed.

"And yet, here we are." he grinned.

She couldn't deny him. If she waited and let him tell Robin, Tim would worry about her and fuss over her and likely tell Bruce and Dick if they ever got out of her. And Lois would be there. She didn't know her, but Lois knew Bruce apparently and she would definitely tell him anything that she felt he needed to know. This would likely qualify.

Dark Falcon closed her eyes and shook her head to rid her mind of the images that had been replaying in their minds. She rubbed her forehead and let out a wearied sigh before meeting his eyes, or the lenses of his mask as the case may be.

"Look, I dreamed about my biological brother and dad beating me and then they morphed into my current brother and dad." she said quickly, knowing he wouldn't miss it because his ears caught words spoken that were much faster than that.

"Do they normally beat you?" he asked softly and sympathetically now. She wasn't sure whether to be upset by his pity or to be happy that his formerly cocky nature had ceased for the moment.

"I don't have to answer that." she responded coldly.

"Do I have to threaten you just to get you to talk to me?" he asked, exasperation evident in his voice. "If you're in danger, I need to know."

"I'm not in danger." she responded, sitting down and leaning against the back wall, her right side close to the glass that separated them. "I don't live with them anymore, my biological brother and dad, I mean."

"And your current dad and brother?" he asked, sitting down 'next' her.

"You already know that Robin's my brother, that alone should make it clear." she said, a little harsher than before. Of course her family doesn't beat her. _Not yet anyway._

"Okay, okay." he said, throwing up his hands in what she thought was supposed to be mock surrender. Of course, she couldn't rightly tell when his hands were manacled the way they were. Those things were starting to get on all of their nerves. "Then why would he be abusing you in your dream?"

"It wasn't Robin." she responded simply.

"Nightwing." he finished. She nodded lamely. "And Batman." Another nod.

"You feel like it's your fault he got hurt and think they ought to retaliate the way your past family would when you screwed up." he stated looking to her for comfirmation, though he looked quite certain that he'd assessed correctly.

She felt the left side of her mask stretch upward when she raised an eyebrow at him.

"I've read a psychology book or two." he admitted with a shrug. "Besides, I know someone who had somewhat of a similar past."

"Who?"

"Doesn't matter. What does matter is that it's not your fault he got hurt and if they are anything like Robin, I think they'll forgive you in a heartbeat. You were protecting his life, not running around attacking people for no reason." he said, looking at her meaningfully.

"Thanks." she whispered softly.

"That's what I'm here for!" he joked, jabbing a thumb at the lightning bold on his chest, his red-brown hair flopping with the motions of his head.

"Kid Flash?" she said after a smile and a moment of silence.

"Yeah?"

"That goes for you and Shayera too. They won't hold it against you and you shouldn't hold it against yourself."

He only smiled and the two drifted off to sleep again.

* * *

Wally didn't know how long he had been running, but finally stopped himself in an alleyway in what he realized was Star City. He hadn't noticed it until now, but he'd subconsciously been heading for his apartment and was now only a block or two away from it.

Pulling off his costume, he spun into his civilian clothes before walking with hands in his pockets and head hanging low.

"What have I done?" he asked the darkness that surrounded him. He watched his feet as they trudged the familiar pathway and felt something akin to relief when he was finally off the streets and at the door to his apartment.

He stepped through the threshold and shut the door behind him and leaned against it with a heavy sigh. He gripped his hands in his hair and slid down the door with a groan.

"What have I done?!" he cried out.

"Wally?" a voice asked through the darkness sounding unusually uncertain. He recognized it immediately.

"What do you want?" he asked shortly without looking up.

"What? No 'How are you?' or 'How did the surgeries go?'. We're hurt." another voice answered him, this one distinctly male.

"How did you two get out of the Medbay?" he asked quietly as Dick switched on the light from where he sat in a wheelchair. Both were in civilian clothes and Shayera wore a charm around her neck that kept her wings hidden.

"We got an 'early release'." Shayera responded, one arm around her normally exposed middle where he guessed that a large bandage would be beneath her shirt. "What did you do?" she asked.

"Why are you here?" Wally shot back, realizing he was still sitting. He stood and eyed the two of them, not sure whether to be angry or worried. Shayera looked startled at the hardness in his voice, but Dick (of course) looked unsurprised.

"Mr. Moody over here said you needed to be checked on after having to fight your cousin. Apparently he was right." Shayera responded, leaning heavily against the wall for support. Nightwing shot her a patented glare, but she didn't bother responding.

"I don't need you two to check up on me." Wally responded, jaw setting angrily.

"Oh really?" Dick retorted. "You were shaking after we fought Bart and Sapphire, don't think I didn't notice. You've been angrier than usual multiple times since this started, including now, and that's not like you. And now you've come in moaning about whatever stupid thing you've gone and done now." Brown eyes narrowed as Dick silently challenged him to deny it.

"J'onn said you have a mental barrier that's been breaking down due to current circumstances and you're dealing with emotions that you normally shove away." Shayera added. "So answer our question because I'm tired of being in the dark."

These two were probably Wally's two closest friends in the world. They'd been through the hardest and best of times together, weathering them out by leaning on each other's shoulders. But right now, he just wanted to be left alone. He certainly didn't want to think about how angry he'd been lately or what had gone down at the orphanage and he didn't want to see the flashback of the night his mother died play over and over in his head, just as it was doing now.

"Get out." he demanded before turning and walking away. He heard the familiar whiz of a batarang and side-stepped as a batbola hit the wall. "What were you planning on doing there, Dick? Tying me up and interrogating me like a criminal?" he asked angrily, eyes flashing as he spun around to regard him..

"We don't know that you're not one, right now." he answered coolly. "So tell us what you're freaking out about and we won't have to worry."

Wally's green eyes narrowed as he glared at his friend. He'd known Dick for years and his returning glare wasn't about to scare him any more than it had when they'd first met.

He also knew that it was in Dick's nature to suspect that he had done something wrong. Especially when Wally was acting like this.

"You should get back to the Watchtower. You two are putting too much strain on yourselves." he finally said, half out of actual worry for their health and half to get them off his back.

He could still see Faith's frightened expression in his mind and hear her pleading with him to come to his senses.

"Sit. Now." Shayera commanded, now leaning on a handle of Dick's wheelchair as he slowly moved it forward, keeping an eye on her so he wouldn't go too fast for her and make her topple over.

Wally saw this and, realizing he couldn't win this battle, went to his sister's side and let her lean on him instead. He set her in a chair before sitting in the one across from it. Dick wheeled himself between them.

"Now are you going to tell us what's going on so I can go take some more drugs?" Shayera asked, face twisting in a grimace. He couldn't help but smile softly at that.

"Wally, what did you do?" Dick asked. "You seemed pretty distraught a moment ago."

Wally covered his face with his hands again and hung his head. He could still hear Faith's plea ringing in his ears.

"_Please, please stop. You're scaring me._"

His mind pulled him unwillingly to a time when those words had been uttered from the lips of another woman he had desperately loved, only in a different way. A woman he had loved and lost.

_A twelve year-old Wally covered his ears as the sounds of flesh hitting flesh broke through his dreams. Hesitantly, he pulled off his covers and slipped out of his bed, the backs of his eyes beginning to sting. He knew that if he interfered, he would be in trouble and he would very likely get hurt too._

_But he couldn't leave his mom to suffer alone._

_He slipped out of the door to his room and ran to the kitchen, where his father was holding his mother against the counter. His hand was firmly gripped around her neck and her head rested painfully against the cupboard._

_When he saw the knife in his father's hand, he knew this was worse than it had ever been. Before he could even think about it, he was running at his dad and had barrelled into him, sending both man and boy rolling across the tile floor._

_He wasn't a big kid, quite scrawny actually, but his father hadn't been expecting it- so his attack worked._

_The stench of alcohol made Wally choke as he rolled to standing position._

_"Wallace! Get out of here now!" his mother screamed, worry for her son overshadowing her own safety. He ignored her._

_"Go to bed, boy." his father growled, brandishing his knife as he stood. _

_"Leave her alone." the young boy growled, red hair falling in his eyes as he stared his father down, trying to appear braver than he felt. His body shook in fear involuntarily._

_"Don't be a hero, boy." he father growled with a smirk. "It'll only get you killed." _

_Wally gulped and felt behind him for something, anything._

_"Rudolph, please. Leave him alone." she pleaded with her husband and then turned to Wally. "Honey, this is between your dad and I. Please go!" _

_When the boy again refused, hiis father lunged at him, and the boy stumbled backward, screaming as the knife sliced a long gash across his chest._

_He fell backward and grabbed a vase, throwing it at the looming man in order to slow him down. He felt around for anything and everything, scooting backward while still sitting and throwing remotes and discarded beer bottles at his attacker._

_It was then that his mother stood in front of him. He couldn't see her face, but he could hear her crying._

_"Please, please stop. You're scaring me. You're scaring him." she said, trying to gently push him back._

_He watched as his father grabbed his mother's strawberry blonde hair and pulled her toward him._

_"You're going to defend _him_?! I'm your husband, woman." he seethed._

_"And he's your son!" she whimpered._

_"Not anymore." he answered, throwing her to the wall on his left side. "I don't have a son." _

_The boy's emerald eyes grew rounder as he tried to get away. He rolled over onto his stomach, ignoring the pain that shot through his wound and tried to crawl on his hands and knees, but a hand wrapped around his ankle and drew him backward._

_He screamed again as his gash rubbed against the carpet and left a track of blood across it. He turned his head to the side in time to see his father's knife hand raised and poised to strike. Shutting his eyes tightly, he held his breath, expecting it to have been his last._

_A grunt came from his father's lips and his eyes shot open to see his mother with a wooden baseball bat, having just struck his father's back with it._

_"Leave him alone." she pleaded, still crying. His father released his grip on the boy and Wally rolled onto his back._

_His father stood and grabbed the bat before twisting it away from her and plunging the knife into her heart. The woman clutched the area around the knife as she fell, knees buckling, and her blue eyes glazed over._

_"Momma!!!"_

The rest had passed like a dream. Cops bursting into the home, having been informed by the neighbors that something was going down. He remembered being taken to the hospital and moving in with Uncle Barry and Aunt Iris after the funeral.

No one in the League even knew he didn't have a mom. He often spoke of her as if she were alive and sometimes told people that she would be going somewhere or other with him. No one bothered to check to find if he were lying. Wally had decided if he told people his mother would dead then they would start asking questions like 'How?'. It was better left untold.

He'd never seen his father again after her murder.

But the memory haunted him still.

Wally's body began to shake as he broke down, tears falling in puddles in his palms.

"I'm just like him." he said aloud, finally, though it was barely above a whisper. "I'm just like my dad."

"Oh God, Wally." he heard Dick respond in horror. His friend wheeled closer and pulled his hands from his face, making the younger man look up at him. "Don't say that. Don't you dare say that." he told him seriously. "You have to tell me what happened."

He took deep calming breaths, trying hard to compose himself.

Shayera was looking hopelessly lost, yet terribly worried, and he couldn't blame her. He'd never told any of the Justice League about his past and hadn't planned on it. Dick had only found out because he'd seen the scar on his chest when they were Titans and had forced Wally to tell him where it was from. He knew it wasn't something he'd aquired after he'd started hero work because he healed at superspeed, leaving minimal if any scarring. His true story also explained the other scars scattered over his body. The few Leaguers who'd seen any of his scars had believed him about them being from hero work.

"Oh God, Wally." Dick said again after a moment of silence. "Where's Faith? What did you do?" he asked, suddenly realizing the connection between feeling like his father and repeating 'What have I done?' over and over. His brown eyes were wide with panic as he shook the young redhead's shoulders.

Shayera's were too and she stiffened in her seat when she realized Dick was worried about her safety and apparently had good reason for it.

Wally wanted to yell at his friend for thinking he would hurt her, but then again- he almost had.

"She's fine. I left her back at the orphanage." he said brokenly, closing his eyes tight. "But I almost hit her, Dick. I shoved her and I almost hit her."

Dick breathed a sigh of relief and leaned forward and wrapped his arms around the young speedster as Wally started to cry again. The redhead returned his embrace, clinging tightly to his shirt like it was his only lifeline.


	27. Demands for Explanations

_**Author's Note: So I'll take this time to point out that I have changed Faith's costume. The main reason is that her first one didn't look very superhero-y when I drew it, so I made some adjustments. Look back at Chapter 18 where I added the change, if you need to.  
Here we go! Don't forget to review!**_

_**Disclaimer: I only own Faith. The rest of the characters in this chapter are completely property of one DC Comics.**_

**Chapter 27- Demands for Explanations**

Shayera closed her eyes as she tried to process the flurry of information she'd just been handed without proper explanation. She silently cursed her stitches, wishing she could offer Wally comfort the way Dick was able to by hugging the boy and offering a shoulder to cry on, but she doubted she was even strong enough to get over there at this point.

Wally had a point about her over-exerting herself.

After Dick had decided he was going to find Wally, less than five minutes after he had come to, she had been determined not to be left behind. So the two of them had snuck out of the Medbay, only having to knock out two technicians before going to their rooms to change and making it to the main room where the teleporters were.

There, Shayera had 'persuaded' Booster Gold to distract Mr. Terrific while Nightwing typed in the passcode, sending glares at anyone who tried to approach either. She had to lean on one of his handlebars the entire time, but he didn't seem to mind and was careful to go a bit slower than he probably would've liked.

Shayera put an elbow on the armrest of her chair and held her head. It felt like the room was spinning and she was not enjoying it. She tried to focus on what she had heard.

Wally had shoved and almost hit Faith. As much as the very idea revolted against every image she had of the boy that she often thought of as her younger brother, there was no denying that this was exactly what he had said. Then there was the part about his father.

Now that she thought of it, Wally had never mentioned his father. Not once, since she'd met him. If Wally had almost hit Faith and had been saying he was like his father because of it, that must mean his father treated women that way- most likely his mother. And knowing Wally, he hadn't let her bear it alone.

The thought made Shayera's stomach turn. Which didn't make her feel any more pleasant than she already did.

"Anyone want to explain this to me?" she finally said, looking up from her lap as Wally started to settle down. The two boys looked up at her. "It's not optional."

"What do you want to know?" Wally asked wearily, emerald eyes looking at her and for the first time she could see the pain hidden deep within them.

Shayera mulled the question over. How could she put this? She didn't want to be insensitive, but she wasn't one to dance around a topic. Her bluntness often got her in trouble in these situations and she'd been trying to make at least an effort to tone it down. To aquire 'tact', as John so aptly put it. Not that it often worked...

"Your father..." she began. "What kind of man was he?"

Dick growled a few choice words about the kind of father Mr. West was under his breath, hand curling into a fist as it rested on the arm of his wheelchair.

"As far as I know he's still in jail for murder." he responded quietly. "He killed my mom when I was twelve... in front of me." his voice got smaller as he spoke and Dick patted his friend on the shoulder.

Shayera felt the backs of her eyes burn when she took in the information. "But your mom." she sputtered. "You're always talking about her."

"If I said she was dead, people would ask questions." he offered after a long hesitation.

"How did it happen?" she asked quietly.

Dick stepped in on this one when he realized it was too hard for Wallly to recount. He told of the night Mrs. West had died and how he'd lived with his Uncle Barry and Aunt Iris after that. He told of the mission they'd been on when Dick noticed the scar across his chest along with a few others and had made him talk about it. He'd never mentioned it to another soul after that. Wally kept his face in his hands as the coal-headed fellow hero told the story, she had no doubt he was grimacing beneath it.

Suddenly it all made sense. Shayera closed her eyes, half to think and half to keep from getting nauseated at the rate the room was spinning now. The fact that the room had learned a new trick did not amuse her. She knew her dizziness and the pain in her stomach were not a good sign, but refused to go back until she was quite satisfied with knowing what she'd been missing, for years apparently.

The mental wall J'onn had talked about- the reason both he and Batman had them was because of their traumatic childhood and their attempts to mask it over the years. Bruce's childhood had been stolen from him, so he'd rolled with the punches and grew up faster than any child ought. On the other hand, Wally's childhood had been stolen as well, so he often acted childish and constantly happy in order to block out the pain and regain a bit of the childhood he lost.

He spent his time with the orphanage children because he identified with them and because he loved kids and didn't want to end up like his father.

And moving to recent happenings, he'd felt responsible for the disappearances of the three teenagers- which had set him on edge. But had gotten much worse when he'd had to fight Bart. It all made sense and the picture it painted brought her understanding of him into deeper focus, a focus that hurt her to think about.

Shayera felt another flurry of emotions coming on, she felt boiling rage at the man who had hurt Wally so deeply. She felt like crying, which was something she tried not to do at all, much less in front of people. But mostly she felt sick- both emotionally and physically sick- and she couldn't tell which felt worse or which she felt most.

"Oh, Wally." was all she managed to get out.

It was then that Dick noticed how pale she was. "Shayera, you don't look so good."

"I don't feel so hot, either." she admitted truthfully.

Wally tapped his communicator after spinning into his costume. "Table for three... and don't forget the wheelchair."

* * *

Superman stood beside the transporters with a deep scowl on his face as he waited for their two escapees to return from whatever idiotic mess they'd decided to indulge themselves in. He was not amused. Just a few minutes ago, he'd gone to the Medbay to check on their two patients, only to find two unconscious nurses and two empty beds. They'd scoured the Watchtower for Nightwing and Shayera, only to hear from a sheepish Booster Gold that they'd taken the transporters to some place or other.

And that was why a very irked Superman was waiting by the transporters. They would be back soon, he was sure of it, and he determined that they would not get away with such reckless actions.

A flash of blue and three figures stood before him.

_Speak of the devils._ he groaned as he recognized Wally with them. _I should have known you had something to do with this._

"Uh oh." he heard Wally utter under his breath.

It threw him off a little when Flash didn't make some joke by calling him 'Bats'. Ever since he'd pointed out, in all seriousness, that Clark resembled Bruce when he was scowling, he'd enjoyed bringing it up at every plausible opportunity.

"A word." Superman said to the three. He watched as Nightwing, dressed in civilian clothes but with his mask on, raised an eyebrow at him before wheeling toward him. Wally immediately moved to Shayera's side and helped her along. She looked pale and her apparent weakness made him wince.

_It figures that I would have to scold the three least likely League members to care about making me upset. _he thought with annoyance. _Other than Bruce, anyway. _At least he was pretty sure that Nightwing would refrain from talking back, he's just sit there impatiently until he was done lecturing an promptly wheel away. Superman didn't expect the same from the two redhead Founders.

"What on earth did you think you were doing- sneaking out of the Medbay like that? Our staff shouldn't have to fear for their safety from those they are working to serve. That was completely irresponsible of you three." he began, sternly, eyeing each of them. Shayera stared back defiantly and Nightwing's eyes narrowed. Wally looked at Shayera, brow furrowing.

"What did you _do_?" he whispered in her ear, apparently forgetting the Man of Steel had _very_ good hearing.

"He has nothing to do with this." Shayera responded with more than a little annoyance, not even sparing a look at her 'brother' as she glared at the Man of Steel. "And next time we'll just gift-wrap them for you, instead."

"There had better not be a next time, Shayera. I never want to hear about this happening again. You almost put the whole Tower on lockdown with your little escapade and we already have enough on our plate lately without you playing around." he scolded.

Superman watched as Shayera's wings bristled and she stepped forward from where she'd been leaning on Flash. "You have no right to yell at me! Our business was our own and you have no right to judge intent. So get over yourself, Boy Scout, and go patrol Metropolis or something." she lashed out.

More than one head turned in their direction as the angry Thanagarian's words echoed through the large room. Superman could feel the eyes boring in to him as they expected him to react. Honestly, he wasn't sure how to.

It was then, though, that the fiery woman apparently decided to save him the trouble as her eyes rolled back into her head and she pitched forward. Superman caught her before she hit the ground and picked her up bridal style, brow furrowing in concern.

"Shayera." Flash called worriedly, rushing over to Superman's side.

"This can wait. Let's get you two to the Medbay." he said, lookeing pointedly at Nightwing. Wally legged it over to Nightwing, but the former Boy Wonder held up his hand sending Flash a death glare.

"I can push myself." he growled.

Flash shrugged nonchalantly. "Whatever you say, Wing."

* * *

Roy eyed the girl beside him as she walked rigidly beside him. He knew the look on her face and knew she was racking her brain for some way to avert his attention from the obvious subject.

"Don't even try it." he warned pointedly. "You're going to tell me everything." _And then I'm going to go give that idiot a piece of my mind._

Faith shivered in the cold night air. "Can we at least go somewhere warm? I'm freezing out here."

"Fine." he said, veering into a mom and pop diner called Sally's that was on their right. He had a couple of bucks still on him so he ordered them both cups of coffee before leaning back against his side of the booth. Faith's left eyebrow rose beneath her mask as she watched him.

"You're not waiting for me to start this conversation, kid. You know the questions I have and I'm expecting answers." he said, crossing his arms over his chest. Still she didn't budge. "Why did you call me?"

"Mrs. Laveque didn't want me to leave by myself. She said I was in no condition to go anywhere alone." she answered simply. She was gazing out the window now, as if she was trying to put everything together. She was arranging the puzzle pieces in her mind.

"Why not?"

"She worries."

"Must you make this hard?" He asked with annoyance.

Her silence told him _yes_.

He growled under his breath. "Fine. Why were you at the orphanage in the first place?"

Her eyes didn't leave the window, but her voice choked as she spoke. "I knew I'd find him there sooner or later. We visit the kids alot- when we get the chance."

"Why were you trying to find him?"

She peeled her eyes away from the window and looked at him. "He was acting... weird. I don't know, I just knew that something wasn't right after he fought Kid Flash. It was eating at him, but something else was too and I wanted to help him." she answered quietly.

The waitress came up, eyeing them like they'd come from the circus, and set down their cups. "Anything else?" she asked.

"No, thank you." Faith responded. The woman shrugged and turned away promptly.

"So what happened when you got there?" Roy asked, drawing her back to the subject at hand. She sighed and took a sip of her coffee.

"I hung out with the kids for a while and Mrs. Laveque told me when he got there. He was telling a story- about Grodd, I think, or the Ultra-Humanite. Some kinda monkey guy." she shrugged. "When the kids left, I talked to him for a second- told him I was there for him and I wanted to talk. I told him I knew something was eating him. He just sat there with his head in his hands." She bit her lip at this point and her eyes flicked toward the window again.

Roy's brow furrowed as he studied his cousin curiously. "Go on." he prompted.

Faith took a deep breath and closed her eyes. "He started shaking. Vibrating, actually. He stood up and shoved me back and started yelling about how I needed to mind my business and stuff. He backed me up against the wall and made like he was going to hit me. I closed my eyes, but when I opened them, his fist had stoped an inch away from my face. He mumbled something about how I couldn't understand and ran off." her voice was thick with emotion.

She opened her eyes and finished by taking a deep swig of her coffee, cringing when it burnt her throat.

Roy saw red. _How dare that pompous jerk treat her like that?! She did nothing to bring that on!_

"That stupid little-" he started.

"I'm done." Faith said, pushing her mug away from her and closing her eyes as if she were far to weary to handle anything more.

Roy felt that he was at a loss. He was not the type of person that handled emotions very well, especially not female emotions. She was clearly upset and in need of comfort, but Roy wasn't a hug and mush type of guy. He was more of a fix-the-problem guy, and right now his fists were itching to do the job for him.

He tried channeling his inner Dinah but that wasn't really coming through with anything. It had only given him two things, have girl's night where they mush up and cry together while watching chick flicks or kill Wally. The second was sounding way better than the first, and far more gratifying to his manliness.

He took a last swig of his coffee and stood, feeling the caffeine pump more blood into his veins. He settled in his mind that the best thing he could do right now was just follow her lead and then beat the crap out of the blasted speedster the next time he saw him. And he would make sure that time came soon.

He left a few dollar bills on the table and headed out the door with her.

He got tired of his 'follow her lead' plan within a few minutes. She was just wandering aimlessly. He doubted she even remembered he was here.

"What you need is to get your mind off things." He finally said, making Faith jump. He was right, she had forgotten he was there. "How about Aaralyn and Roy go see a soccer game or something? I'm sure there's one tonight and I'm doubly sure that they can still get tickets."

She smiled softly. "Alright, but I get first bet on who wins." Sure, she wasn't completely cheered up- but it was a start.

They headed into the nearest alleyway and Roy reached up tap his communicator before his hand was hit by a batarang. He and Faith both jerked their heads upward, wondering why Batman would be in Flash's city. But it wasn't Batman they laid eyes on. Standing on the edge of the not-so-tall building before them was the newest Boy Wonder, eyes narrowed as he stood beside a woman in a black business dress and blazer. She was holding a gun and had a belt on her waist with two holsters.

"That's cheating." Robin said, almost eerily. "No calling friends."


	28. When Will This End?

_**Author's Note: My brother's been pestering me to update, so here we are. :D Though I really shouldn't because he's trying to get on my nerves today...**_

_**Disclaimer: Faith and Sapphire are the only characters that belong to me. If I owned DC Comics, this would be a movie or something- not just a fanfic. :P**_

**Chapter 28- When Will This End?**

Superman walked the halls of the Watchtower somewhat absently. He'd just readmitted Shayera and Nightwing to the Medbay. He knew Shayera would still be ticked when she woke, but that was just another thing to worry about. Nightwing would likely be out in a matter of minutes, he guessed, there was really no reason to keep him there.

The Boy Scout rubbed his temples feeling weary. How late was it in Metropolis anyway? He really wasn't sure, but it felt like he'd been up for days. Things were tense in the Watchtower- it always was when a situation like this came up, which luckily wasn't that often.

The capturing of heroes so close to the Founding Members was unnerving and had everyone on edge. More than one secret identity was at risk. More than one life was at risk. Luthor had kidnapped three teen heroes and no one knew why or who would be next. If one identity was comprimised, so were countless others. If one life was lost, well, he didn't want to think about that. Especially since they were only teenagers- fourteen, fifteen, and sixteen if he remembered right.

_Clark, there is a personal call for you in the Conference room._

Superman made it there in record speed, blurring down the halls- glad for the distraction of a call. He wasn't sure how Bruce had managed it, but he'd somehow found a way for personal calls to be redirected from cell phones to the Watchtower. Everyone was thankful for the improvement. It made the lives of those who had dual identities that much easier.

He picked up the silver phone and held it to his ear as he reclined in one of the high-backed chairs around the table.

"Clark Kent." he told the caller.

"Clark? Hey it's Jimmy." a young voice came over the speaker.

"What's up, Jimmy?"

"I was just wondering if you had seen Lois lately."

"No, I'm afraid not." he said, alert as he sat up rigidly in his chair. "Why do you ask?"

"Well, I was supposed to meet her downtown to try to get some information from Durlap on the Franklin cover up, but she's an hour late already and I can't reach her phone. It's not like her."

Clark stood, face paling as he did. That piece was due tomorrow and he knew she'd be working on it full-throttle today. Beyond that, Jimmy was right, Lois wasn't the type to ignore calls or to be late to something like that. If she had found something better, she would've called Jimmy so he wouldn't waste his time there.

"Sorry, Jimmy. I haven't seen her, but I'll let you know if I hear anything."

"Thanks, Clark." the younger boy responded. "See ya tomorrow."

"Sure thing."

The moment the conversation ended, Superman whizzed into the main room.

"J'onn, get me to Metropolis now."

A blue light engulfed him and he felt that familiar queasiness that came with having your molecules flung around in that fashion. He materialized on the roof of the Daily Planet and the moment he did, a shrill ringing greeted his sensitive ears. A sick feeling settled in his stomach as he flew toward the source.

In an alleyway just behind the Daily Planet, he found a pearl earring that had rolled underneath a trashcan lid. He'd given Lois the earring because she, like Jimmy, had a knack for getting in trouble because of their close ties with Superman. But he hadn't been there to save her when she called for it.

He slammed his fist angrily into the brick wall beside him, letting the dust billow as crumbs of it fell to the ground unheeded.

It didn't take long for him to find the security tapes. Three boys he recognized jumped Lois as she walked from the backdoor of the building. They were the kids from Bruce's research, the ones hired by Luthor. Lois put up a pretty good fight, being an army brat can do that for you. But she hadn't been expecting the sudden blackness that engulfed her from behind as it knocked her unconscious as Shade walked into the scene. The time on the tapes said this all had gone down right after they'd fought Dark Falcon and Kid Flash.

He sighed angrily as he tapped his communicator.

"Take me up, J'onn, and call a Founder's Meeting. They took Lois."

* * *

Flash felt sick, physically sick, but he sucked it up as he sat in his chair and waited for the Boy Scout to speak. Normally, the sight of the logo he'd painstakingly painted onto it would make him smile, but not today.

He held a hand to his head and willed Clark to speak already. This was taking too long. His headache was throbbing behind his eyes from having cried. How long had it been since he'd actually cried? A long time... well, if you excluded the nightmares that popped up just when he was starting to forget.

J'onn was the last to be seated, bringing the grand total to five. Shayera was still unconscious and Batman had secluded himself in the Batcave to do research and brood. Supes would probably be filling the billionaire in when this was over.

"Can we hurry this up?" he found himself saying, though it wasn't in his usual whining tone. This was brisk, to the point, 'I have places to be' voice- more of a Bruce-like tone. He received more than one raised eyebrow and didn't even bother shrugging.

"Luthor has taken another hostage, it seems." J'onn hesitantly offered.

There was a visible stiffening of every member of the team. "Who?" was the unspoken question, which Superman angrily answered without prompting.

"Lois."

Wonder Woman bit her lip as Superman's fist clenched visibly.

"It appears that our fight with Dark Falcon and Kid Flash were timed to keep us from interfering." J'onn put in, seeing that Superman wasn't going to. "Which makes sense of what Batan told us- that they're being blackmailed into doing this."

Flash put his head into his hands. "When will this end?" he groaned.

"Luthor has to be planning some sort of stand." Green Lantern spoke up. "He's not just going to keep snatching heroes, and civilians, for fun. He's going to use the advantage for something."

"So far he's taken four who are close to us, the original seven. It's like him to target us specifically. Who else is left?" Superman asked.

"I would say Supergirl, but we're keeping her on lockdown up here, so she's in the clear." Wonder Woman pointed out. "And with Nightwing out of commission, we don't have much worry there."

"Besides, I don't think he's dumb enough to put three Batkids together." Flash added. "Diana, where's Wonder Girl?"

"She's still in Themyscira visiting Mother." she answered. "But I've contacted her on the chance that she was thinking of returning. She promised to stay there until further directions are given."

"So everyone's in the clear?" Superman asked, hopefully.

"Wait." John turned to look at Flash. "Where's Faith?"

Flash felt the sick feeling in his stomach twist painfully as he thought about her. First for the reminder of how he'd treated her, but that was quickly overlapped by worry. They hadn't exactly made it a secret that they were in a relationship. She often came to Central to help when she could and the press had, of course, eaten it up.

"Central, last I checked." he gulped.

"We need to get her up here immediately." J'onn said, standing. "I think it very likely that she will be the next target." Without much more talking the five hurried from the room and followed J'onn to the controls.

"Faith, come in." he spoke into his comm. link as he pulled up her location on the screen. There was no answer. "Faith, are you there?" he asked again, voice sounding more grave.

Mr. Terrific was sitting nearby and spoke up. "If Faith's not answering, you could try Speedy. She asked me to beam him down less than half an hour ago." At their alarmed looks, he elaborated. "She was in Central City and said it wasn't an emergency, it wasn't for backup. Though she did sound somewhat upset."

Wally let a pained sigh escape his lips as he shut his eyes tightly. After dating for over a year, he knew what she was thinking on this one. She'd called Roy so she wouldn't have to explain. She didn't want to talk about it.

He wanted to kick himself right now. How could he do that to her?

When he opened his eyes, both Wonder Woman and Green Lantern had picked up on his frustration and were making faces at him. He recoiled sheepishly as J'onn called Speedy instead.

"Speedy, this is J'onn. Do you know the whereabouts of Faith?" Again, no answer. "Speedy, we need a response." Nothing.

He turned to the others. "This doesn't bode well. Their communicators haven't been shut off. They're still on."

"Perhaps they're in a situation where they can't speak. The two are Ollie's wards, did they have plans tonight?" Wonder Woman suggested.

"Did you pinpoint their location?" Superman asked the martian.

"Yes. They are still in Central City. It appears to be an alleyway." That blew Wonder Woman's theory.

"Beam me down." Superman said, zipping over to the bluish circles. Flash beat him there.

"Me too." the speedster said.

Seconds later, their molecules were placed correctly where they belonged. The first thing they saw was an unconscious Speedy laying on his back. A circular device protruded from the right side of his chest and Flash's breath caught with worry.

Superman checked it out with his X-ray vision. "It's not deep. It only breaks a few centimeters through his skin." he said, wrapping his thumb and pointer finger around the device and yanking it out quickly. Speedy groaned and the wound began to bleed, but Superman folded the boy's material over the wound and pressed down.

Flash's eyes scanned the area, heart pounding in his throat. First Kid Flash and now Faith, was Luthor trying to drive him mad? Maybe.

He sped around the area, praying that he'd find the brunette somehow. At this point, he didn't care if she crushed him with one of her forcefields, he just wanted her to be okay. Something caught his eye and he bent down. A white circular disk lay on the ground- Faith's comm. link. He laid it in his palm and growled as he balled the hand into a fist. The last time she had been kidnapped, she almost died.

His headache grew into a migraine as he was transported back to the tower. Luthor had all of his pawns at the ready. Now all they could do was wait for his next move- and pray.

* * *

_Great job at the hero gig, Tim. _Robin hung his head as the helicopter flew through the cold winter air. Lois sat on his right with an unconscious Faith laying across her lap. Her hands were already manacled, due to the fact that she could fly and heights weren't a problem for her like it was the rest of them.

He could see the same expression on Lois' face as he knew was on his. Luthor had used them to get this woman on their side. He didn't know what the man was planning, but he felt ashamed that he'd had a hand in helping the super-villian with his scheme.

What choice did he have, though? It was either kidnap Faith or kill Sapphire and Bart. There wasn't really much of a choice there.

Faith groaned from where she lay and her eyes started to flutter. Lois smiled at Robin and turned back to the younger girl. It had been Lois' doing, knocking both of the Leaguers out. Speedy had been relatively easy, since Lois had shot him while he wasn't expecting it. Luthor had given the raven-haired woman two guns, one with the knock-out devices and the other with real bullets, not that she would've used the latter.

It had then been Lois who snuck behind Faith while she tried to fight Robin, who was her better in actual fighting techniques, though she had the advantage of her powers. Lois had quickly struck Faith's pressure point and the girl had dropped like a sack of potatoes.

"My head." Faith moaned as the helicopter began to descend. When her eyes finally opened enough to take in her surroundings, she shot up to sitting and glared at Lois before moaning again as the sudden motion rattled her brain.

"You okay?" Robin asked, leaning around Lois.

"Why do you care?" she shot back, clearly in a foul disposition.

"It's not like we wanted to kidnap you." Lois said angrily. "Our hands were forced."

Faith's brow furrowed before a look of realization dawned on her. "Lois Lane? You were kidnapped as well?"

It was then that the helicopter jerked as it landed and Volcana smirked from across her. "Time to move, ladies."

"And man." Robin ground out with annoyance.

"Volcana." Faith growled as she laid eyes on her.

"In the flesh, dear. Good to see you again." she laughed as she lit a hand to taunt her. Faith jumped to her feet, only to find a heavy burden weighing down her hands.

Robin looked at the two. Volcana with a smirk and Faith wearing a deep scowl. The two had a past, he guessed. The boy didn't get much further speculation before Luthor stepped in. He jerked his head as two men came to place manacles on Lois and Robin's hands.

Though every feeling revolted, they allowed them to do so without struggle.

"Luthor, what's going on here?" The nineteen year-old asked, lenses of her mask narrowing as she glared at him.

"You'll see soon enough, Faith. Though, I don't think you'll enjoy it much."

* * *

Roy woke up feeling sluggish and bleary-eyed. He had to blink a few times before the things in the room surrounding him took shape, then a few more times for them to become clear. He realized he was shirtless and weaponless, with a large white bandage over the right side of his chest.

He sat up and saw there was a male nurse at the end of the bed, writing something on his clipboard.

"Where's Faith?" he asked, looking about the room with worry. The other bed was empty and the sheets folded, ready for the next patient. She hadn't been in here.

The last thing he remembered was Robin and Lois Lane attacking the two of them in an alleyway. He'd been caught by surprised and shot first. He remembered having fallen and seeing Faith put a forcefield around the two of them. The last thing he had seen was her crouching down and calling his name worriedly.

When the nurse didn't answer, he pulled the IV out of his arm before hurrying out of the Medbay and toward the main room, grabbing his discarded shirt on the way out. He pulled it over his head as he walked, scowling slightly when he saw the large hole that revealed the bandage beneath as well as the blood staining it.

He found the control deck and five of the founding members on it.

"Where's Faith?" he asked loudly. Each of the heads swivelled in his direction.

"She was kidnapped, just like the others." Superman said, obviously upset with the revelation. "Can you tell us what happened."

"We were attacked- by Robin and Lois Lane, the reporter. She shot me with that round thing and I was knocked out." he said, gritting his teeth.

"Are you sure it was Lois?" Superman asked, growing worried now.

"Of course I'm sure. She shows up in Star almost as often as I've seen her in Gotham. Though, I didn't know she knew how to handle a gun."

"This is bad. This is so bad." Wally said from behind the Kryptonian powerhouse.

When Speedy laid eyes on him, something snapped.

"You!" he accused, jaw clenching as the startled speedster looked back at him. "How dare you even pretend to worry about her?!" Flash's eyes went wide and he looked as if he'd just been sucker punched. Speedy pushed past a very confused Boy Scout and got in Flash's face.

Flash sputtered for a moment. "Of course I care! I love her." he rebuttled.

"Oh really? You could've fooled me." Speedy said, voice raising as his anger pumped fuel into his system. He knew he was eliciting plenty of stares, but he didn't care. He was mad and this jerk was the reason.

"Look, Roy-"

"I don't want to hear it!" Speedy growled.

"Whoa, buddy, you need to back off." Green Lantern said, clapping his hand on the angry hero's shoulder. It was immediately shrugged off.

He turned and was about to start up again when he heard a commanding voice yell, "Enough!" He felt something touching his stomach and looked down to find a bo-staff wedged long-wise between Flash and himself. It was held by a black-gloved hand. The hand shifted and the staff doubled in length, knocking both ex-Teen Titans away from one another. They both looked down at their former leader.

Speedy felt himself nearly stumble backwards when he realized that Nightwing was actually sitting in a wheelchair. A cast covered his right leg all the way up to the knee. The injury didn't quench his anger, though.

"Dick?"

"That's enough, Speedy." he said. "You don't know the whole story."

"And you do?" he questioned, recovering himself. The lifting of his mask on one side said 'Did you really think I wouldn't?'. He began to fume again.

"So you're sticking up for your buddy now, Nightwing? The one who's stooped to abusing my cousin?" he growled lower now.

"I didn't hurt her, Speedy." Wally responded, now getting equally angry and taking a step forward. "I would never-"

"Never what, Flash? Never hit her? Well you sure came awfully close." he spat.

Then his vision was blocked by a fuming Wonder Woman.

"The two of you need to calm down. Now." she demanded, then turned to glower at Speedy. "And you'd do best to remember that Flash isn't a fellow Titan anymore. He's your senior authority."

"Just be glad it was me who found out, West, and not Arrow or Canary. Though I imagine it'll reach them eventually."

And with that the redhead stalked away toward his quarters on the Watchtower, leaving four confused and upset founding members looking at Flash and Nightwing, obviously wanting an explanation.

Flash only wanted to disappear.

* * *

Faith was shoved along the long hallways beside Robin and Lois. Volcana was taking more than a little trouble in burning her back a little bit every time she slowed, so she focused on keeping her motions quick enough to avoid it. She was already feeling dizzy. She had tried to fly away and get help the moment they'd stepped out of the helicopter, so Luthor had demonstrated the electrical capabilities of her manacles. Faith had to admit that it had scared her. She knew her heart had almost given out after being nearly electrocuted to death by Celesteon, she wasn't too keen on testing her limits again.

They finally reached a more open corridor and were presented with two cells, both with glass-like walls. Each held one occupant, each standing as the others entered the room. The figure in the one on the left called her name.

"Faith?" he asked, worriedly.

"Oh goodness, Kid Flash, are you okay?" she questioned looking him up and down. She was glad to finally see him after having worried so much about his being hurt.

"Fine." he answered shortly, glaring at the guards.

"Against the wall." Volcana ordered the two in the cells, her voice holding more than a hint of boredom. They complied as the doors opened. She was shoved in the one with Kid Flash, while Lois and Robin were put in the cell with the other girl, whom she guessed to be Dark Falcon.

Immediately she felt the pull of the gravity beam below her and she fell to her knees, letting out a hiss of pain.

"Luthor doesn't want you flying about in your cell." Volcana with a smirk. "You might break something." And she left.

When they were alone, Kid Flash hurried over to help her seat herself. She had to use her flight powers to even move, it seemed, which meant this was not going to be fun.

She propped herself up against the wall, manacles to her right side since they were the heaviest for her and she looked up at the others.

"Any idea why I'm here?" she asked.

"You're dating Flash, right?" Lois asked. Faith nodded mutely, internally wondering if that was actually true anymore.

"Then we're right about the weakness theory." The redhead on the other side spoke up. "By the way, I'm Dark Falcon. I take it you're Faith."

"Nice to meet you. Kinda." she responded. The ending was meant to indicate that the conditions of this meeting weren't exactly idea and she guessed the other girl caught her drift because of the smirk that appeared on her lips. "Weakness theory?" Faith asked as Kid Flash took a seat beside her.

"Superman and Flash's girlfriends, Batman and Flash's sidekicks." Robin said, waving his hand at each. "He's planning to use us for something."

"I'm not Superman's girlfriend." Lois pointed out.

"Doesn't matter. He's still got a soft spot for you."

"Congratulations Boy Wonder." a deep voice echoed as Luthor entered the room. "It appears that your inheritance of the title is more than just a formality."


	29. The Showdown Begins

_**Author's Note: I swear I didn't die guys! I'm so sorry this chapter took forever, but I had some serious writer's block. It's over now, so y'all can continue to enjoy the story. Please try not to come after me with pitchforks!**_

_**On a completely unrelated but seriously cool note- I've recently aquired Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths, Superman/Batman: Public Enemies, and Green Lantern: First Flight (the movies!). They were all so good! The only thing that annoys me is in things like Superman/Batman: Public Enemies, if that really happened you'd better believe Robin, Nightwing, Batgirl, and Supergirl would be kicking some serious butt in protection of their mentors. But it was still a good movie. :)**_

_**Disclaimer: It seems that I only own Faith and Dark Falcon. Apparently**_

**Chapter 29- The Showdown Begins**

Luthor left the smug grin that had been plastered on his face remain as the red haired girl moaned painfully in her unconscious state and return to motionless dreaming. He was almost finished fixing the chip to her scalp, hidden by her hair, as he had done with the others.

It was a flawless plan, one he would relish in having thought up. He would be killing two birds without hardly even having to waste a stone.

"Are you almost done?" a deep voice questioned as a figure entered the room.

Lex felt his irritation peak for a moment and then subside. Grodd thought he held all the power over him, but he understimated the millionaire's sharp mind. Lex would beat him at his own game. He was a patient man when it came to getting what he wanted- which happened to be the last surviving piece of Braniac. Maybe he'd even do these lowlife villians a favor and become their new, more competent, leader too.

"It would go faster if you helped."

"Now you know why I can't do that Lex. They could wake up at any moment and see me. Then the whole secret of my Society would be compromised." the gorilla responded. "I'll leave you to it then."

Sharing the glory wouldn't be a big deal and the defeat of the Justice League would make taking down Grodd that much easier. He only had to bide his time.

* * *

Flash had managed to keep the questions of the others to a minimum. He wasn't entirely sure just how he did that, but it worked. Nightwing had been some help and they were now headed down to Wayne Manor in order to check on Batman and fill him in on all that had taken place since he'd been in Gotham.

The two had already beamed down and now Flash was waiting on his counterpart to find whatever he was looking for.

"I know they're around here somewhere." The former Boy Wonder mumbled under his breath.

"What are we looking for? You know I could find it much faster." the speedster commented, leaning back on one of the many machines just sitting around down there. "Man, Alfred must clean this place like every day to keep it this clean."

"We're not the only night owls." he responded, "Aha!" Dick held up a pair of silver crutches and pulled off his mask, since he was already in civilian clothes. He pulled himself out of his chair and onto them.

"Lemme guess. They have Nightwing capabilities." Flash guessed. Dick nodded and he continued. "How long are you gonna be on crutches anyway?"

"I'm told close to three months." he shook his head. "Sapph blames herself for this. I know it."

"No doubt."

They continued on in silence to Dick's room, Wally taking only five seconds to change into some of Dick's clothes, before they found Bruce in the library looking over paperwork that no doubt had much to do with the capture of his two younger children.

"What is it?" Bruce asked, spotting the redhead first.

"Well, your eldest is conscious, for one." Wally pointed out, seating himself across the desk from the billionaire. He placed his chin on his fist. "Beyond that, Lois and Faith have been kidnapped as well."

Bruce's head shot up. He nodded once at Dick, in acknowledgement and a hint of relief, before turning to Wally. "How did it happen?"

"Clark said Lois was kidnapped by Shade. Lois and Robin later kidnapped Faith in Central City- another Slade-like blackmail incident, I would guess. I think it's been made pretty obvious that this is a Founding Seven vs. Luthor thing. Supergirl and Wonder Girl are safe and even Supes' friend, Jimmy, has been told to lay low. I take it you've put Batgirl on lockdown?"

Bruce stood and turned his back to them, gazing at the picture above the fireplace for a moment, the one of his parents, before looking at them again. "I need to go to the Cave."

The two younger heroes followed Bruce through the various hallways and down the steps of the Cave.

Wally began to pray. It wasn't something that came completely natural to him just yet, even after getting saved a year and a half ago. To Faith it seemed to be almost second nature, though she said that was likely because she'd been praying since she was old enough to talk.

_Lord, we need some help down here. We're all on edge trying to figure out what on earth Luthor has up his sleeve. Please give us wisdom like you gave to Solomon when he asked it of you. Keep our loved ones safe so we can find them._

They had just reached the Batcomputer when his communicator crackled to life.

"We've found them."

_Hallelujah! Amen! Praise the Lord!_

"Where?" Bruce questioned, hand up to his own comm. link.

"Wreaking havoc in Metropolis. We have to move now before someone gets hurt."

"What?!" Wally nearly panicked. _God, this wasn't what I had in mind..._

"Something's wrong with them. You're going to have to fight them." J'onn told him.

"Only founding members and relatives on this team. No one else." Batman commanded, already changing into his Batman outfit. Wally had already done so. "Beam us there." he said when he was finished.

A bright light engulfed the two heroes and left Dick standing alone with a semi-permanent scowl on his face. He'd guessed what was going on and moved to where his costume lay on a nearby gymnast pole. Batman had never explicitely prohibited him from going as well. He'd wait until he was dressed and his father and friend weren't there to protest.

* * *

Diana hurried over to where J'onn stood, tapping away at controls.

"We're here." she stated, indicating Superman and Green Lantern behind her. "Let's go."

"I'm locking in your coordinates now."

"Aren't you coming?" she questioned, giving him a pointed look.

"No." he said, ignoring her scathing expression. "I can better serve you up here."

"J'onn-"

"We don't have time for this, Diana." Superman cut in. "Beam us down." he moved toward the transporters, practically dragging his two counterparts with him.

"I'll assemble a backup team. Batman says we are only to use relatives outside of the Original Seven. I will assemble all who are available."

"Thanks, J'onn." Clark said, just in time for the blue light to swallow them.

* * *

Tim felt like his brain was going to explode. First, because of it's consistent throbbing and second, because of all the effort he was putting into trying to regain control of his body. Everything looked slightly fuzzy at first, but it was slowly clearing up. He could see Faith floating above an unconscious man with a cynical grin.

_What is she doing?_ he thought, just in time to see his own fist go straight through a store window and have it shatter all around him. He was glad for the Kevlar gloves at that moment, but confused. Why couldn't he make his body respond to what he wanted it to do?

He found himself doing a front flip through the window and planting his feet on a man's back, sending him face-first onto the floor, before flipping out of the open window again.

_Mind control._ he finally understood. Funny how it controlled everything except his mind, perhaps it was supposed to do that- like creating a new mind instead. He could feel everything and understand it all, but couldn't do anything about it. Tim suppressed the urge to panic and instead focused on what was going on, attempting to test out what he had control over.

After a few moments, the panic pushed through his defenses and he let it take over.

He couldn't control anything- at all.

* * *

Diana, Green Lantern, Superman, Flash, and Batman stood side by side- each stunned to silence by what they surveyed from the rooftop they stood on. To their right, Faith was using her forcefield to throw a car across the street, barely missing an old woman staggering for cover. Robin was a few feet away with his bo-staff pinning down the man beneath him. Behind them, Lois had a whole store at gunpoint. And on their left Kid Flash was creating a tornado that was sweeping people into it's terror. Dark Falcon had a woman and man pinned against a wall in the alleyway by their necks.

"What the..." Green Lantern trailed off.

"Stop!!" Diana screamed, seeing Lois ready pull back the hammer on one of her pistols.

There was a sudden silence as movement in the streeet ceased. Kid Flash's tornado slowed and dropped the debris it carried in a heap on the street. The five formerly kidnapped heroes turned their heads to face them, a small smile creeping onto each of their faces.

"The high and mighty have arrived." Kid Flash responded. "Let's greet them."

Faith formed a forcefield around Lois and flew slowly to the building where the five standing members of the Original Seven stood awestruck. Robin and Dark Falcon flipped their way up the fire escape in perfect rhythm with each other. Kid Flash just ran up the side and crossed his arms over his chest.

The two 'teams' stood ten feet away from each other, one facing the other as they stared each other down.

"This seems familiar." Flash said first, eyeing the opposing group. "What's going on now? What is Luthor holding over you?"

"Nothing, love." Faith responded, sneering at the red-clad speedster. "Maybe we're just angry with you."

"So you're hurting innocents?" GL spoke up. "I beg to differ. This isn't like you at all- even if you were mad."

"Maybe you don't know me as well as you think." she responded, eyes wide with sick pleasure.

"This is what you get for abandoning us, Daddy." Dark Falcon's head cocked to the right as her gaze went straight for Batman. "Feeling guilty, yet?" Batman stiffened, but returned the glare.

"Enough talk. Time to dance." Lois declared, crouching down with a sinister smile.

With that simple statement, the entire opposing group lurched forward and into battle. Dark Falcon immediately began to spar with Wonder Woman while Kid Flash was dodging around Green Lantern and his ring. Batman was quickly pitted against Faith while Flash was dodging heat blasts thrown out from the arm blasters on Lois' wrists. Robin was keeping just out of reach of Superman while throwing explosive Batarangs.

Diana controlled her strength as she blocked the flurry of limbs directed at her by Batman's daughter. She was afraid of hurting the girl, but determined that it wouldn't stop her from protecting the inhabitants of the city. She added in a little more strength as she blocked another blow and kicked Dark Falcon's middle. What she hadn't realized was how close the girl had been to the edge of the roof. The action sent the redhead off the side of the building and she began plummeting toward the concrete below. Wonder Woman froze in startled shock for a split second.

"Diana!" she head Batman yell, anger evident in his voice, before she saw him run past her and dive off the building himself. Seconds later, she felt something slam into her back and found herself falling as well. This time, she had the good sense to stop herself by flying and spinning around to her attacker.

Faith didn't bother saying anything before she plummeted toward Diana, ready to maintain the fight. She blocked the aim at her middle and threw a few punches back at the younger girl, before risking a quick glance down. Batman had caught Dark Falcon and slowed their fall with a grapple, but she was now flipping out of his arms and toward the ground.

Faith used her distraction to capture the Amazonian powerhouse in a forcefield and slam her into the closest building. Wonder Woman began to pound on the purplish sphere around her, but Faith squeezed it tighter around her. Letting out a feirce war cry, she finally broke through just in time to hear Batman.

"Dark Falcon- Don't!"

* * *

Batman held his arms up in what was generally acknowledged as the universal sign of surrender. Dark Falcon stood only a few feet in front of him, a trembling woman in front of her as the redhead held a batarang at her neck, the pointed end already drawing a trickle of blood. He felt his frustration reach a peaked point as he backed away from her, an attempt to show her that he wasn't a threat. His mind was working ninety-to-nothing in figuring out what was going on here. What had Lex figured this time?

"What do you want?" He asked.

"To watch you suffer." she smirked, she pulled the batarang away just enough to ready herself in plunging it into the woman's neck. Before she could, though, two red beams shot down from the roof and seared her hand. Dark Falcon screamed and jumped backward, dropping the batarang and her grip on the woman. A few drops of blood fell from her hand, as she glared up at Superman. She let out an angry scream as she charged at Batman, not regarding her wound in the slightest.

"Something's unnatural about this." Green Lantern announced from where he hovered in the air above Kid Flash and rubbed his jaw. "I'm pretty sure my last blast dislocated the kid's shoulder and all he did was yell for a second before working harder." He moved out of the way of the twister he was created to suck him downward. "He's even using that arm still."

"They have no regard for civilians and Dark Falcon just tried to kill one." Superman agreed over the comm. link that connected them as he avoided a Kryptonite-laced Batarang and used his laser vision to make it explode midair.

"J'onn, we need you down here now." Batman commanded as he threw another punch at his surrogate daughter, though she blocked it effortlessly. "We need your help in figuring out why they're doing this!"

"I'm of better use-"

"Can it, J'onn!" Flash yelled, sliding over the icy patch Lois had created and letting out a painful grunt as he hit an air conditioning unit. "If you don't get down here, someone's going to get hurt. If we keep having to fight them, they'll die, J'onn!" he growled. "We can only keep this up for so long before we accidentally kill one of them."

"Now, J'onn!" Wonder Woman screamed.

"I'm on my way."


	30. It's Finished

_**Author's Note: In order to make up for the incredibly large amount of time that I didn't review, I've worked all day (and morning, since it's almost 5am now- crap! I'm picking up Bruce's bad habits!!) working on this chapter. It was a hard one to write, so I hope you enjoy the effort.**_

_**Disclaimer: As much as I would love to own these characters and make a super cool movie all about the Batclan and Flash teaming up (wouldn't that just be fantastic) along with many awesome movies and TV shows, those aspirations will never move beyond my imagination. Why? Because I don't own these characters and I'm pretty sure I'd get arrested if I tried.**_

**Chapter 30- It's Finished**

_"I feel the tension build in my trigger finger_

_Before you shoot to kill, should I open fire?_

_You left me with no choice_

_It's not what I want_

_Try to kill me with your voice_

_I'll do what I have to."_

_-Inhaling a Bullet by High Flight Society_

Sapphire wanted to scream. She desperately tried to make her mouth open to do it, but it wasn't working. Her hand hurt and was still dripping blood, she was pretty sure Superman had burnt holes all the way through her palm, but she hadn't gotten a good enough look at it to tell. With each new punch she threw at her surrogate father, more pain radiated up her arm. Her head was hurting too, but she surmised that the cause of that was the fact that her brain had been taken over by someone else.

She couldn't begrudge Superman for burning her the way he did. If she'd been in control of her body when she was holding that woman hostage, she would've been sobbing. She was trapped. Trapped inside a body willing to commit the most horrible of things. She couldn't help but wish Superman would use his laser vision again- this time on her heart. She didn't want to live long enough to hurt them. If they couldn't truly free her, they could free her from the body that controlled her.

She jumped in the air and did a roundhouse kick, which was easily blocked by Batman.

_Daddy, please make it stop!_ was her silent plea as her body continued to fight.

* * *

Flash was getting severely annoyed by Lois' antics, but she had made a clear pathway of ice around her that prevented him from getting close enough to disarm her. You'd think her being the non-meta with the least amount of training would make her easiest to take down, but apparently he'd underestimated the woman. He was stuck dodging bullets, because that was the only thing he could do without getting himself or Lois killed for the time being. She was too close to the edge for him to blow her away from the cold circle and if he tried to suck her toward him, she'd shoot him.

He glanced over his shoulder to see if he could get Supes to give him a hand when he caught sight of GL being sucked into a mini tornado made by Kid Flash. He let out a growl of frustration as GL's shield around himself shattered and he fell to the ground. The younger boy was about to start pummelling him, similar to what he had done to Shayera.

Flash turned from where he was and in seconds had slammed into his younger cousin, sending the two speedsters rolling to the side and off the side of the building.

"Crap!" Flash yelled as he grabbed Kid Flash's hand. Thankfully, he saw a familiar green glow encase himself and his counterpart. "Thanks, man." he said, looking up. But just as he did, Lois levelled her gun at the Green Lantern above them. "Look out!" he yelled, not soon enough.

John clutched his left arm and dropped to his knees, letting the two fall again. Flash tried to grab for his young protogé, but the boy started fighting him midair. They weren't far from the ground now.

"KidFlashstopthisrightnow!" he yelled at superspeed, he latched onto his cousin, pinning his arms to his sides and shifted himself so Bart would land on top. Hopefully the boy would survive this, at least, and have a chance at getting whatever crazy problem this was patched up. They were only two stories from the ground and moving quickly when Flash felt his back his something hard and his descent slow rapidly. He realized someone had caught him and looked up into a green face. "I owe you one, J'onn." he breathed, letting loose the breath he'd been holding.

Kid Flash yanked his right arm free from Flash and elbowed his mentor hard, releasing the older man's hold on him, before rolling off of him and landing on his feet. He began to spin his arms and created a horizontal twister with his arms to blow them away from him.

"There's gratitude for you." Flash said, starting to counteract it with a twister of his own. "Think you can read his mind from here?"  
J'onn's answer was his eyes turning orange. Flash took that as a yes.

* * *

Superman was reluctant to let Robin get any closer. The boy seemed to be intent on fighting him hand-to-hand, but he didn't want to hurt the fourteen year-old. First, if he retaliated to the boy's onslaught, he could easily break a few bones. Second, Luthor had likely given him an overload of Kryptonite for this fight. And lastly, Tim was practically his nephew. And he didn't even want to think about Bruce's reaction to even the slightest bit of pain he caused. But they were a threat and they had to stop going easy on them or an innocent person would be hurt- maybe killed.

As a general rule, he did his best to keep from fighting non-metas, or really anyone with human-like strength, but it looked like that wasn't going to work out for him this time.

Robin did a front flip toward him, another Kryptonite-laced Batarang in his hand, only this time he was trying to slice him with it instead of throwing it. Superman's fist connected with Robin's middle, and even with his attempt to tone down the strength in it, at least two sickening snaps were heard as the boy's ribs cracked. His direction changed midair as Superman cringed regretfully, and the boy let out a choked cry as he landed. Robin hissed in pain as he pulled himself off the ground and levelled a glare at the Boy Scout.

"You're gonna regret that, Superman." he growled, but Clark was only thankful that the injured ribs hadn't punctured one of his lungs.

"A little help over here." John called through the comm. link, sounding strained.

Superman's head jerked to his right and saw John, left arm dangling limply by his side, while he was doing hand-to-hand combat with Lois. The army brat and former marine in a duel, how interesting- if not slightly ironic. He was having a hard time keeping both of her arms, and therefore the blasters attached to her wrists (not to mention the gun in her left hand), pointed away from him at the same time. Glad for the opportunity, Superman zoomed toward his friend and pulled GL into the air, keeping himself between Lois' firing gun and John.

"You've been shot."

"Yeah, I noticed." he grimaced.

"I'm sending you back for medical attention." Superman informed him. GL opened his mouth to retort, but Superman beat him to it. "Please don't channel Batman right now. You really are in no condition to fight and I won't let you even if you think you are." Reluctantly, the former marine's mouth closed and Superman reached up to his ear. "I need medical transport for GL, he's got a bullet lodged in his left arm."

"You're going to have to let go of him, then." Mr. Terriffic's voice came back. "He can't be touching anyone that's not being transported as well, unless you want your arm and body in two different places."

"Understood. Count it down then."

"Three... two... one." On two, Superman let go and John began to fall. He was halfway to the ground when he was taken by a blue light.

"Are Black Canary and Green Arrow back from their mission in Indonesia yet?"

"No, and they can't be spared. But Nightwing and Speedy are ready. ETA twenty seconds."

"They can't. They're injured." he protested.

"They're well enough to fight and you need backup. With Batman's orders of only Founders and family members, they're the only ones left."

Superman started to argue again, but shut his mouth with a growl of frustration.

* * *

"Ahhh!" both J'onn and Kid Flash cried out in pain and staggered before collapsing. Flash's arms instantly stopped moving.

"J'onn! Kid Flash!" his eyes went wide behind his mask. Before he could do anything more, he heard gunshots begin to ring out as Lois began shooting toward them in rapid succession. He grabbed J'onn before the bullets could hit the cement where he had just been lying. She then aimed for Kid Flash, who was apparently unconscious as he lay motionless on the pavement. Wally slung him over his other shoulder and sped toward the closest alleyway out of the way of her fire.

"You okay, J'onn?" he asked the martian, who was now sitting up and rubbing his head, as he checked his cousin's pulse. "What happened?"

"Something, someone, is controlling their minds and they don't want me interfering." he responded, pulling himself up to a standing position. "His own mind is still active, and in a great deal of pain, but they are too weak to break out of it themselves."

Wally pushed a strand on brownish-red hair away from Bart's mask, deeply worried about the boy, before he tapped his communicator.

"Kid Flash is unconscious, for now. J'onn says they're under mind control. And watch out- they're willing to hurt one another. Lois just tried to turn Kid Flash into target practice."

"Great, how do we stop it?" Wonder Woman questioned as she threw another punch at Faith, which the girl blocked. Her time in the League simulations had done well for her fighting skill in the past year, but she was still no match for Diana.

"We find the source of the mind control." Nightwing's voice responded. She could see he and Speedy standing side by side on the roof by looking past Faith. "Flash, where are you?"

"Move!" Wonder Woman yelled. They heard her, and just in time, too. Lois had spun around and started aiming at them and Robin was running toward them.

Once again using her distraction against her, Faith kicked her hard in the middle, throwing the princess backward a few feet and drawing her back to her senses. Faith wrapped a force field around her, did a flip midair, and therefore threw Diana to the pavement with enough force to make a three foot deep crater where she landed.

The impact sent Dark Falcon flying from where she'd been standing near it, and into a building, slamming her head against the brick infrastructure. Batman watched as she shakily stood to her feet, feeling the back of her head with her good hand and pulling it away with blood. It was surreal, watching his surrogate daughter wobble forward with blood dripping from each hand. She couldn't last much longer this way and he was terrified that she, or whoever was controlling her mind, would push her so far that she died instead of just losing consciousness.

"In the alleyway beside the jewelry store." Wally's voice continued over his comm. link. "Why are you here? You're on freaking crutches!"

Great. Now all of his children were in immediate danger.

* * *

Faith could feel the bruises beginning to raise on her stomach and arms. They didn't call Wonder Woman a powerhouse for nothing. Her ribs were aching and she was pretty sure her left wrist was broken, but there was nothing she could do about that now.

She felt tired, so drained and exhausted that she wouldn't be surprised if she dropped out of the sky at any moment, though her body was already descending to continue fighting with Wonder Woman. She didn't see it until it was too late and she didn't know whether to be upset or happy about that. Of course, she didn't want to fight her friends anymore, but getting hurt didn't appeal to her that much more either. Her body tried to put up a forcefield, but the lasso cut right through it and tightened around her middle so tightly that she thought her spleen might explode from it.

That wasn't the worst part though. Just as Wonder Woman's lasso made contact with her skin, Faith's back arched and she let out an ear piercing scream as pain shot through every inch of her body, nerves on fire. She vaguely became aware of the sensation of falling before everything went black.

* * *

"Great Hera." Wonder Woman gasped as Faith began to fall, lasso still tightly around her lower rib cage. She caught the girl just before she hit the ground and set her down gently. Quickly, she felt for her pulse, regaining her ability to swallow when she found it. J'onn had warned them that Faith's heart wasn't quite as strong since hear heart attack a year and a half ago, but she'd managed through that.

Diana hadn't considered the repercussions that would come with tying a lasso of truth around a woman under mind control, but she now had a fair idea of what it was.

* * *

Superman moved toward Lois and grabbed the heat blaster on her right wrist, crushing it as gently as he could in his attempt to keep from breaking her wrist. It didn't work quite as well as planned. She dropped the real gun in her other hand as she howled in pain, jumping away from him.

"Sorry." he apologized quickly, mostly out of habit.

She then smirked and pulled a good-sized shard of Kryptonite out of her pocket. "No need to apologize, lover boy." she smirked.

"Dadgummit." he muttered as a sick feeling came over his stomach and he stumbled backward, resisting the urge to vomit.

Before anything more could happen, though, a batarang had hit it out of her hand and off the side of the building. She spun around, vicious snarl on her face as she grabbed the gun off the ground and pointed it at Nightwing, who had one black crutch extended from where he'd just shot out the batarang.

"Aww. The big bird is back on his feet." she cooed coldly. "Maybe I should just get rid of the small one instead." she turned her gun on Robin and fired three shots before the former Boy Wonder could move. Speedy ran and tackled the younger boy to the ground. They successfully missed the last two shots, though the second razed the redhead's shoulder, but the first was deep in Robin's thigh. He screamed loudly and clutched it painfully for a few moments before regaining himself and throwing a punch at Speedy.

"What the crap!" the latter yelled in surprise.

* * *

"It's a chip about half the size of a dime, somewhere in their hairline. Faith's is off." Diana's voice crackled over their comm. links.

"Do we just pull it off?" J'onn asked.

"Go for it. It's our only chance." Batman muttered darkly.

The chips were off in a matter of minutes. Dark Falcon had fallen unconscious pretty soon after banging her head, thus making three down already. Robin's was found while he was standing and he collapsed the second he regained control. Tears began to stream down his face while his brother dropped down beside him and held him until he fell unconscious in the safety of his arms. The combined pain of the bullet and his cracked ribs overwhelmed him too much for him to stay conscious. Lois was last and the moment she was free, fell into Superman's waiting arms, sobbing uncontrollably and whispering apologies as she cradled her hurt arm.

"Finally." Wally whispered, lifting his unconscious cousin into his arms. "It's finished."


	31. Unconscious

_**Author's Note: Here's another new chapter. Sorry these are coming in so spaced out! I'm trying to be more rapid with them, but it's my senior year- so that's my excuse! :)**_

_**Disclaimer: Only own Sapphire/Dark Falcon and Aaralyn/Faith.**_

**Chapter 31- Unconscious**

Bruce felt sick to his stomach.

His two younger children lay on either side of him on hospital stretchers, IV's hooked up to them and looking more bandage than person now. Tim had an oxygen tube shooting air up his nose since he'd been having trouble breathing, but Sapphire's blood drip had long since been removed. Both had feeding tubes attached to them. It had been a full week and not a single one of them- Faith, Robin, Kid Flash, Dark Falcon, or even Lois who had fallen unconscious just before they'd been taken to the Watchtower- had woken up yet.

They'd been fixed up and nothing was happening. By all medical means at least one of them should be awake. For goodness sake, Lois had only suffered from a broken wrist, leaving out the psychological damage of course.

They'd done something to them. It was obvious. That cowardly lot had tampered with his children and the others in some way that they couldn't figure out. He really ought to be getting back to the lab to continue running blood samples on them, decipher what was happening here, but he wanted to linger just a moment longer, see them safe again.

The excuses were going to be hard to cover if they kept this up. He'd had to tell the principal of Tim and Sapphire's school that they'd taken an impromptu vacation to Maui for a week or so and that he wasn't sure just when they'd return. Dick was supposedly with them, but they'd have to come up with a severely broken leg excuse soon enough. Bart was supposedly visiting his Uncle Wally in Star City. Aaralyn was in New York again with Roy and Lian, who were both bunking on the Watchtower until she recovered. Bruce, likewise was staying in the costume only until he could stage his return from Hawaii. Lois didn't need an excuse. She was injured and the League was taking care of her- simple as that.

The call to the mission taking over, Bruce stood from where he'd been seated and pulled the cowl back on. Dick and Barbara should be patrolling right about now, which freed him up to get down to cracking whatever these maniacs had done to their captives (though he had argued profusely against the former doing anything in costume).

It only took him thirteen consecutive hours, with minimal interruptions that included Diana forcing him to at least take a bite out of a sandwich, for him to figure it out. He had been right about his hunch with the bloodstream and after scanning each of their blood samples with their best medical microscope, he found the little intruders littered throughout their blood.

The last seven of those thirteen hours were spent creating something to counteract it. He smirked, the closest thing to a genuine smile that most would see on the Batman, as he eyed the five syringes filled with semi-transparent liquid. They would all have their loved ones back soon enough.

* * *

"Nothing? Nothing at all?"

"I'm sorry, Aunt Iris. Batman's working on it, that's the best we've got right now." Wally said, rubbing her back with a gentle hand. "Bart's safe now and his body is completely healed by now. We just have to figure out why they're not waking up."

"And Aaralyn?" Barry asked, running a worried hand through his hair. "Has she improved any yet?"

"No, she hasn't either."

"Her family must be awfully worred too."

"They are, Uncle Barry, they are."

He hated going up to the Watchtower since they'd been kidnapped in the first place. The guilt he'd first born was echoed upon the faces of most of his friends, each upset by how they'd hurt their friends. Worry, too, wore them down until many looked like the walking dead as they passed each other for meals.

"And how is Shayera doing, love?" his aunt asked gently, seeing her nephews distress written plainly across his features.

"She's recovering nicely, can hardly bend over still, and won't stop complaining about her inability to do much of anything. That's Shay for you, though." he smiled fondly. "She's sitting with them until I get back."

"I'm glad to hear it. They're both such sweet girls." she said as she made her way to the kitchen and brought back a plate of cookies for him a few seconds later. "Here, have something to eat. Are you staying the night?"

"No, I really need to get back to check on Bart and Aaralyn."

"Alright then, sweetheart. I love you." his aunt pecked his cheek with a kiss as soon as he'd finished his plate

"I love you too."

* * *

Dick felt like he was going insane. That was probably due to the lack of sleep he'd been warranted in the past week, but he still didn't like the feeling.

Each day he would sit in the Infirmary with Tim and Sapphire, hoping that would be the day they decided to open their eyes again, while he worked on his college classes online in his attempt not to fall behind while he was supposely in Hawaii. When nighttime in Gotham came along, he would be beamed down or use the Batplane and resume patrolling the streets all night.

There wasn't much supervillian activity at the time, Dick guessed that those who'd been figured out as having been involved with the recent kidnapping were trying to keep low. There were rare times when the Bat would become nearly murderous, and if this was one of those times, they really didn't want their faces to be seen.

Dick had no doubt that they'd start wreaking havoc again if Batman stayed on the Watchtower much longer. The criminals were beginning to pick up on his absence. He'd only been down once or twice since they'd gotten Tim, Sapph, and the others back, but the fact was bound to be noticed. He and Babs could only instill so much fear on their own. Especially when he was on crutches.

"It's gonna be alright." Barbara's voice told him soothingly as she placed a hand on his shoulder. "Batman'll figure it out and it won't be long before everything's back to the way it was again."

"I hope you're right, Babs."

* * *

"What did you find?" Superman asked, trailing his longtime friend, Batman, as he stalked down the medical bay and into Lois' hospital room.

"Hold this." Batman commanded as he placed a tray into his hands. Superman eyed the syringes atop it as Batman picked one of them up.

"What's in them?"

"Luthor put some type of paralyzing microscopic bodies into their blood streams that's keeping them from reaching consciousness. I've created something to fight back." Batman responded tapping the needle once or twice before squirting a bit out the top in order to release any air bubbles.

Taking Lois' left arm, he wiped it with a bit of alcohol before inserting the needle into her vein and draining the syringe of it's contents.

"When will we know if it worked?"  
"When they wake up." Batman retorted as he tossed the syringe into the waste bin.

"How long will that take?"

"For Lois? Not long."

Seconds later, she was groaning. Superman rushed over to her side, but kept his eyes locked on Batman.

"What about the others?"

"There's no telling how long it will take, a day or two at the most, though. Most of their energy will be focused on healing themselves, thus it'll take longer for them to recover." he looked at Lois whose eyes were beginning to flicker open. "Lois only had a broken wrist. Tell her to stay in here for a while longer, until J'onn can see her, but you can get a nurse to take out her feeding tube. And you'll likely want to do that before she's fully awake.

After administering the solution to each of the five, he informed a few nurses that they needed to remove the feeding tubes in them all. They ought to be conscious within a few hours, maybe a day or so at most, and able to swallow their own food. It wouldn't help any of the latter four especially, to have it removed while they were conscious. No need to make them sick and risk them causing more trauma toward their injuries.

* * *

Roy carried Lian on one hip to the infirmary. He wanted to check on his cousin, hoping she might just be awake this time. It was a thin hope, but a hope nonetheless.

When they entered the room Aaralyn and Bart were sharing, he found a dozing Thanagarian with her head resting on Kid Flash's ankle and couldn't help but chuckle quietly. He was surprised Ollie, Wally, and Dinah weren't in here keeping Shayera company. Oliver and Dinah had to keep up appearances, though, and he couldn't care less where Wally was.

"Aawie!" Lian shrieked upon seeing her 'Aunt Aarie'. She made her best attempt at throwing herself out of her father's arms and onto the cot where she lay. Shayera jumped back at the sound, one hand going for her mace and the other for her injured middle which had been jolted in her waking.

"Aunty Aarie has an owie." Roy tried to tell his raven haired girl, but she continued in her attempts to scramble out of his arms. "Lian, stop."

"How old is she?" Shayera asked, leaning back in her seat now.

"Twenty-eight months old." he said, readjusting the struggling bundle.

"She has your eyes." Shayera smiled, but both of their attention shot toward Bart as he suddenly groaned and began tossing his head left and right. She ran over and cupped his face in her hands, holding it still. "Bart. Bart. Can you hear me? Wake up, Bart." she called worriedly.

Even Lian hushed as all eyes, save Aaralyn's of course, fixed on the teenage boy as his own fluttered open at rapid speed.

"Oh my head." he moaned loudly, both hands going up to rub his temples.

"J'onn says that headache's gonna last you a good few more days." Shayera chuckled, patting the boy's cheek affectionately. "How're you feeling, Bart?"  
"Shay?" he questioned, sitting up with a disconcerted scowl as he scanned the room. "We're free." he sighed, body relaxing instantly. "Where is everybody? How long have I been out? Are you okay, I was worried I hurt you."

"One question at a time, speedster." she laughed. "Lois, Robin, and Dark Falcon are in different infirmary rooms. Faith is right there. Wally should be back any minute now. You've been unconscious for a week. I'm fine, just sore and letting a few bruises heal. I forgive you, kid."

"Good. A week?!" he cried. "How could I be out for a week?!"

"Something Luthor did to you."

The boy scowled. "Is anyone else awake?"  
"Only Lois, but that makes sense because she only had a broken wrist. It looks like most of your wounds have healed already, though."

"How bad are the others?"

"Faith has plenty of bruises and a badly sprained wrist, she'll also have a pretty bad headache when she wakes up. Robin has two cracked ribs and a bullet wound in his thigh. Dark Falcon has stitches from the holes Superman burnt straight through her hand, a few more on the back of her head, and her wrist was already broken, but I think they replaced the cast anyway."

"What about the civilians? And the others who fought us?"

Roy tuned out the ensuing conversation as he turned back to where Aaralyn still lay on her cot, motionless. He heard his name mentioned once or twice, but didn't bother listening. He couldn't help but wonder, though, how Shayera managed to understand his rapid-fire questions, much less answer them without more than a second's hesitation. He guessed it had to do with years of practice around he and Wally.

Speak of the devil, the red-clad speedster was just skidding to a stop at the open door.

"Bart!" he cried excitedly, rushing over to his young cousin and wrapping his arms around the boy without hesitation. "I've been so worried. We've all been so worried!"

"It looks like Batman's syringes worked." Shayera noted, slowly seating herself and crossing her arms with a smirk.

"So they'll all be waking up soon?" Flash asked, arms still tightly gripping the boy.

"From what I hear, they should all be awake by tomorrow."

"Praise the Lord!" he sighed.


	32. Restoration Begins

_**Author's Note: It's a bit short, but it's a chapter! :)**_

_**Disclaimer: I own Sapphire and Aaralyn. Besides that? zilch.**_

**Chapter 32- Restoration Begins**

Bart was halfway through his meal and he felt like it was going to take an eternity to finish it. Flash had told him that he needed to take it as slowly as possible. Even with the food tube being put on maximum output during his week of unconsciousness, he'd still lost twenty-five pounds altogether, which was extremely dangerous for him. If he ate too quickly, he would make himself insanely sick. So here he was, having to eat a spectacularly large meal one thirty second bite at a time.

He had been sitting here for close to ten minutes, having to refrain from any superspeed, because that would burn calories, and having to endure Wally's scolding everytime he took a bite before at least twenty seconds had passed. He had only made it through the first four hamburgers and had plenty more to go.

It was then that he heard a scream in a nearby room, and a familiar one at that. He was up in a split second, knocking at least six hamburgers onto the sterilized infirmary floor, and was out the door before the front two legs of Shayera's chair could hit the ground from where she'd been leaning back in it.

Two doors down, he found Dark Falcon and Robin in the same room, both laying in hospital beds on opposite sides of the room. But it was the ginger haired girl on the right that was occupying his concern as he skidded to a stop by her bed. The teen was thrashing wildly. She'd stopped screaming about three seconds ago, but was still panicking silently. He grasped the hand that wasn't bandaged with one hand and laid a hand on her opposite shoulder with the other, pushing it down to keep her still.

"Falcon! Falcon! It's just a dream." he was saying, trying to keep his voice from speeding up. "You're safe. They aren't hurting you anymore." he told her as she continued to whimper.

"No. No! Please stop. I didn't mean to." she cried. Her whole body tensed as if she were bracing herself.

Wally was in the room seconds later with Shayera.

"What's going on?" he asked.

"Get Batman and Nightwing. Dark Falcon's waking up." Bart responded, cringing as he realized the bandage on her left hand had apparently been reopened because it was beginning to turn red.

_

* * *

_

Sapphire skidded on the wet rooftop, hearing a ripping sound as the hem of the knee-length khaki skirt was ripped. Launching herself back on her feet, she hurried away from the figures following her.

_She wasn't fast enough. A sharp pain slammed into her left back and sent her head over heels into the alleyway below. With a dull thud, she felt her body slam into the concrete._

_"Dick, please, I'm sorry." she was crying now. "Just forgive me."_

_"You deserve to be in pain. You deserve to be hurt."_

_"I know. I know." she wheezed. "I deserve it. I hurt you."_

_"And now we hurt you." Bruce said, landing beside Dick._

_"Bruce, no, I'm sorry." she said, pulling herself to her feet, terror causing her voice to quake at the sight of her adoptive father. "Please, please stop. Anyone but you two."_

_"Too late."_

* * *

Dick ran past Shayera, who'd found him in the cafeteria, and straight to the Infirmary. He knocked Gypsy flat on her rear on his way out, but he figured Shayera would cover for him. He had more important matters to worry about. He reached Tim and Sapphire's room in record time, entering to find Bart trying to calm a sobbing Sapphire.

"Come on, Falcon, wake up!"

"_Dick, please, I'm sorry. Just forgive me._"

"I'm right here, Sapph." he responded quickly, stepping around the only coherent teenager in the room to put a hand on her forehead, brushing her bangs away from her mask.

"What's going on?" Bruce entered the room, gloved right hand in a tight fist.

"She's having a nightmare, Batman." Bart responded. "She had one like it when we were with Luthor, but she woke up the moment I yelled for her. Now she won't."

"_I know. I know._" she murmured, head turning away from Dick and then back again. "_I deserve it. I hurt you._"

Dick cursed loudly. "Batman, she's dreaming about _me_. I'm hurting her! How do we wake her?" he asked, almost franticly, desperately willing his sister to stop crying.

"Flash, get a syringe of adrenaline, now."

The speedster was off like a shot as Batman moved over to his newest protege, Bart stepping respectfully out of the way.

"_Bruce, no, I'm sorry._" her voice filled with fear, causing it to quiver again. Only Nightwing could spot the slight stiffening of his mentor's frame, but he was a little preoccuppied at the moment.

Flash was back and handing the syringe to Batman.

"_Please, please stop. Anyone but you two._"

It was in her vein quicker than a heartbeat.

Batman let the liquid enter her bloodstream slowly until he was sure she'd had enough. He didn't want to overdo it and send her into cardiac arrest. Finally, her eyes flickered over and more than one person in the room gave a sigh of relief.

Sapphire flinched visibly when she saw Dick and Bruce standing over her, but calmed when she saw Kid Flash behind them with Flash.

"Oh Sapph, thank God you're okay." Dick breathed, forgetting his crutches as he engulfed her in a bear hug.

He could feel her body stiffen for a moment and then relax when she realized she wasn't in any imminent danger. She was still breathing heavy and her heart rate was up, but that was mainly an affect of the adrenaline on her system.

"I'm sorry, Dick." she whispered, hugging him back.

"Don't worry about it, Sapph. I'm fine." he responded quickly. "I'm just glad you and Tim are alright."

He let go and she looked over at Bruce, who was in full costume like the rest. Pushing herself into a sitting position, she swung her legs off the bed and just stared at Bruce, as if searching his eyes through the lenses that covered them. She looked almost scared to speak. Her hand was throbbing and she took a second to glance at it before grimacing and turning back to her surrogate father.

"Bruce, I-"

Before she could finish, he moved toward her, causing her to flinch. But instead of hurting her, he gently took both her shoulders and pulled her into him, hugging her tightly. Batman's hug was awkward, but as loving as he could make it, which put her at ease. Kid Flash had been right, there was nothing to be afraid of.

When he pulled away, she smiled softly. "It's good to be back."

Flash, Shayera, and Kid Flash all headed out of the room to give the Batclan some privacy. It wouldn't be long before Robin would be waking up and they would get to stop worrying, if only for a few minutes.

* * *

Wally had other things on his mind. Bart and Shayera headed to the cafeteria while he took up his post in the hospital room where Faith was still unconscious. Would she be mad when she woke up? Probably. But the question was whether or not she would decide to forgive him.

He put a hand to his head, praying silently for the wisdom to keep himself from screwing up their relationship again.

Roy was sitting in a chair now, that was tilted backward to rest against the wall, Lian straddled him, now contently playing with the arrowhead necklace that hung from her father's neck and cooing lightly at it.

"Hey Roy." Wally said quietly as he took the seat next to Roy, both being near the head of Aaralyn's bed.

The redhead opposite him refused to speak, leaving his hands around his daughter's hips to steady her while he gazed upon his unconscious cousin. Wally understood his friend's anger, but couldn't help feeling frustrated at his coldness. After all, they'd known each other for years. Surely he knew his character by now- that he would never intentionally hurt someone he loved.

Perhaps that's why his actions had scared Roy so much.

"Look, I'm sorry. What I did... or almost did... was wrong and I can't even begin to describe how bad I feel about it." Wally ran a hand through his hair as Roy turned to look at him. "I love Aaralyn with all of my heart. You have to believe me on that. And though I came close to crossing the line with her, I didn't. I never would.

"My emotions were out of control and my reign on them was slippery. When she confronted me about what was going on, I didn't know how to open up. There have been few times I ever have. Opened up, I mean."

Roy's eyebrows scrunched together and his forehead creased as he eyed his old teammate. Wally continued after taking a deep breath to steel himself.

"I was abused as a kid- badly. And it seemed like, with everything that was happening, the abuse was getting thrown back in my face- forcing me to deal with my past whether I wanted to or not. I still haven't dealt with it, not fully, anyway.

"The point is that Aaralyn means everything to me. She's the most important person in my life, save God, and I don't think I'll recover if I lose her. I'm willing to do whatever it takes, but I need her by my side."

He buried his head in his hands, not wanting to see the red archer's reaction. His emotions were getting the better of him and he continued to shake no matter how strongly he willed his body to stop. His breathing was more easily controlled, even if a sob did escape once or twice.

A heavy hand rested on his shoulder and he lifted his head, peering through the mist that clouded his vision. A reassuring smile grace the redhead Navajo's strong jaw.

"I forgive you, brother." he said simply but sincerely, before standing and settling Lian securely on his hip. He leaned over Aaralyn's bed and kissed her forehead gently. "Go easy on him." he whispered, before hurrying out the door.

Wally looked astonished as he laid eyes on the superheroine that now lay awake on her hospital bed. Using a sudden burst of superspeed, he was at her bedside in an instant.

"Aar, I'm sor-"

"Shh." she murmured, trying slowly to push herself up so she could rest against the pillows behind her. He gently slid his hands under her arms, carefully avoiding her bruised ribs. "I heard everything."

"It doesn't excuse me." Wally responded, leaning her gently against the pillows.

Aaralyn lifted her right hand up to his cheek and let it rest there, wiping away a stray tear as she did so. She gave a weak laugh.

"It does in my book. Just don't do it again."


	33. Pain

_**Author's Note: This is the second to last chapter. Don't worry, there's another sequel in the future which fits the Batclan and Faith into a few of the Justice League episodes (and more)that they ought to have been in. Honestly, the actual Batclan ought to have been included in so many JL episodes, it's ridiculous. Do you honestly think they'd just sit by while their mentor was in danger all those times? No way! Stupid Bat Embargo... Anyway, let me know what you think. It's a short chapter, but I think it works.**_

_**Disclaimer: I only own Sapphire. The rest belong to DC Comics.**_

**Chapter 33- Pain**

_"Pain  
__Without love  
__Pain  
__I can't get enough  
__Pain  
__I like it rough, 'cause I'd rather feel pain than nothing  
__Rather feel pain  
__I know, I know, I know, I know  
__I know that you're wounded  
__You know, you know, you know  
__You know that I'm here to save you  
__You know, you know, you know  
__You know I'm always here for you  
__I know, I know, I know  
__I know that you'll thank me later."_

_-Pain by Three Days Grace-_

Sapphire felt... uncomfortable. Honestly, that was the understatement of the year. What would better describe her current state would be that she was 'wading through emotional turmoil'. Dick and Bruce were sitting in the guest chairs at the foot of Tim's bed while she sat on the one she'd occupied for the last week.

She had turned so that her legs were now dangling over the edge of her bed and now stared at her younger brother. His chest rose and fell steadily in the flourescent light, but she wasn't really watching it. She seemed to be looking right through him. She wasn't really looking at him, because she was lost in her own thoughts.

Hands gripped the metal and mattress edge of her Medbay bed and her legs moved methodically backward and forward beneath her in lazy motion, probably a unconscious reaction to the churning of her mind.

She felt like her mind was on lockdown, unable to process anything at all. The only things registering were that she had screwed up and screwing up meant people getting hurt. People like Dick and Tim, the only true brothers she'd ever known. It meant she would never live up to what Bruce, her father, wanted her to be.

It meant that she ought to be dealt with.

But who was to deal with her? She deserved to be hurt, to pay for what she'd done. She deserved the punishment that came with being the cause of Dick's broken leg, for letting Tim get kidnapped alongside her and hurt, for attacking Bruce, the very man who'd given her a home when her own had been so unsafe for her. She had even tried to kill a civilian.

Curling her hands into her lap, she kept her eyes locked on the coal-headed youth across from her. She closed her eyes as memories of other times she'd "screwed up" flew through her mind: when her dad gave her a black eye for not making enough money to pay the water bill, how Braden had given her a low-grade concussion after his girlfriend broke up with him, the way the beating was always worse when she tried to delay it or run.

Her right thumb and middle finger seemed to find themselves suddenly supporting her wounded hand. She began squeezing, putting pressure on the very area where Superman had shot two holes through her hand. She'd seen it when they were changing the bandages just after she'd woken. It went straight through. As she allowed the mind-numbing pain to soothe her, she felt her vision become blurry and it took her a few moments to realize that tears were running down her cheeks in trails. She wasn't sure how long they'd been doing that.

"Whoa, Sapph, stop! What are you doing?" Dick demanded, jumping from his seat and ripping her wounded hand away from the other. The redhead felt her stomach churn as she glimpsed the red seeping through the fresh bandage at a rate that couldn't possibly be helping the healing of the extremity.

"I-I" she began, but couldn't finish. There was nothing for her to say, so she just yanked her wrist from his grip. At least, she tried to do that, but the twenty year-old's strength was greater than her own and he held firm.

Panic raced it's fingers through her spine and she pulled harder, eyes growing large as dishes as she tried to free herself. "Let go!" she screamed, voice cracking with emotion.

"Dick!" Bruce reprimanded from where he sat, suddenly tense, on the other side of the room.

The man immediately let go and Sapphire used both injured and uninjured hands to scramble backward on the bed so that her back was to the wall and she was as far away from Dick as she could manage. Dick's face embodied hurt as his hands dropped to his sides, using his crutches for support again. He didn't move, he just stood there looking like she'd ripped out his heart and stomped on it until it was a bloody pulp.

That's about when everything snapped in her mind and she just began to sob. She hated to cry, especially in front of others, but there was nothing she could do to prevent it this time. Her mind was a battlefield and she didn't know which side she ought to be on. One told her to run and run hard, she loved this family too much and she didn't know if she'd recover from the loss of their love. The moment they started hurting her, she'd know that their love was a lie and she couldn't deal with that revelation.

Another side reminded her that these men were not her biological brother or father. Bruce and Dick were the real deal and there was no way they'd allow her to be harmed, especially by themselves. They were good and loved her no matter how many times she messed up.

The last told her that she deserved to be hurt, wounded, punished. She should give up now and let them hurt her, encourage them to extract their revenge on her. She should allow herself to endure the pain because she deserved it.

The last only cried out for Tim to wake up, because he would know what to do. She had no battles going on in her mind about him. She knew him.

Her sobs grew in intensity as she drew her knees up to her chest and rested her forehead upon them. Her body shook as the tears fell.

Soon she felt the bed move as someone else sat upon it and scooted toward her. She barely had the opportunity to look up before she was wrapped in Dick's arms. Her mind reacted on instinct and she turned into him, gripping the front of his costumed and sobbing into his chest while he stroked her hair.

"It's gonna be okay, Sapph. Shhh. Let it out." he soothed as his own tears slid slowly down his face.

* * *

Bruce looked upon the two sleeping forms with a tenderness that many weren't aware the Bat possessed. It had been a little over half an hour since Sapphire had broken down and Dick had comforted her. Now the two slept, Dick's head leaned back against the wall, mouth slightly open as a soft snore escaped from it, his left hand lay limp beside him while the right rested dutifully on his sister's head. His left leg was raised but the right acted as pillow to the redhead whose hair looked wild as it was strewn across her brother's costume. The two looked peaceful, though, and that's what tore at his heart.  
They were safe.

He moved forward and gently stroked a stray hair from his daughter's face, before stepping back again. He didn't want to ruin the peaceful moment, he merely wanted it etched into his mind forever.

A soft groan was heard from behind him and he turned in time to see his younger son's eyes flicker open.

"Hey Bruce." Tim said softly, a bright smile breaking across the teen's face as he took in the sight of his mentor. Bruce's eyes closed for a few moments to take in this moment as well. Relief swept over him.

They were all safe.

"How are you feeling?" he questioned as he opened his eyes again.

"Well, my thigh is throbbing from the gunshot wound." he admitted as he started to push himself up, then fell back with a sudden hiss of pain. "And the ribs, I forgot about the ribs." he wheezed.

Bruce proceeded to help his son sit up in bed with the least amount to pain to his injuries.

The two sat in silence for a few minutes before Tim's head turned toward his older brother and sister across the room to his left.

"Why wasn't I invited to the sleepover?" he smirked playfully.

"Sapphire woke up a few hours ago and had a panic attack or two. Dick managed to calm her down and the two fell asleep."

"Is she okay?" Tim asked, turning concerned eyes back to his surrogate father.

"I think so." he responded quietly. "She will be."

"Good." he relaxed slightly, looking back at the two. After a moment or two, though, he looked back again. "Bruce, do you have that little digital camera that Babs convinced you to put in your utility belt?"

The man pulled it out of the fourth compartment on the left side and handed it to his youngest wordlessly, having already concluded what the fourteen year old was up to. The boy grasped it and took a few pictures of the sleeping duo, immediately managing to send them to his laptop before handing it back to his dad.

"I sent one to the Batcave too." he informed Bruce as he handed it back. The older man just smiled.


	34. Epilogue

_**Author's Note: I've left y'all waiting for the conclusion of this story for long enough, so here it is! There will be a sequel, probably a few, and I will split up Faith and Sapphire into two different storylines, just not quite yet. .**_

_**Disclaimer: I only own Sapphire. The rest are property of the rock awesome DC Comics.**_

**Chapter 34- Epilogue**

_Roughly one month later_

Sapphire skimmed the paper she was about to sign as Tim did the same on the other side of Bruce. They were sitting in one of the main offices of Gotham's city courthouse and had been here for a few hours already.

Bruce was as close to beaming as the alter-ego of Batman would ever be expected to reach. In other words, he had his 'Bruce' smile on (the one he used for the camera's), but the spark in his eye showed that he really was happy. Dick was leaning against the wall behind the three with a catlike grin on his face, characteristic of the circus kid.

"Your father will have to sign the top line and each of you may sign the bottom with your new name. I mark it with my judge's seal and it's official."

It was odd, she thought as she wrote slowly and carefully, that only near half a year ago she had been an abused teen girl, always the victim and never the savior. Now she enforced the law, stood for justice where she once succumbed to violence. Where she once was unloved, she now had a family and even friends that wouldn't hesitate to lay down their lives for her.

She hoped they'd never get the chance to do anything of the sort.

_Sapphire Marie Wayne _and _Timothy Jackson Wayne_. It made her heart flip with joy when she read it and she couldn't suppress the smile that lit up her own face as she looked her father and younger brother in the eye with barely concealed excitement.

"There you go. We'll make copies of these documents for you and send them to your address. You'll want to change the name on Sapphire's driver's license within the next two weeks. That's all. You can go now."

"How does it feel to officially be a Wayne now?" Dick laughed as the four of them headed down the hallway and to the front door.

"Pretty darn good, though it'll take some getting used to." Tim answered as he pushed the door open and stepped into the cold January air.

They were immediately bombarded with cameras and reporters wanting to be the first to get a word with any of the four before they left.

"Sapphire, what made you and Tim decide to change your names to that of your adoptive father's?" one asked, shoving the microphone in her face.

Sapphire smiled for the camera, "Bruce has been a fantastic father to us and has taken the two of us in from homes that were less than 've grown to love him as if he had always been our father and we wanted to show him. I'm proud to carry the Wayne name."

"Word is that the two of you changed your names, but Mr. Grayson declined the swap. Do you know why?"  
"My older brother had wonderful parents, ones that nurtured him and loved him dearly. As much as he cares for Bruce, he still loves his parents and wants to carry on their legacy in name." she responded, using nearly the exact words Dick had given when she and Tim had asked.

"According to public files, your former home was abusive and Mr. Wayne took you in when you were removed for your own safety. It also says that you have a brother, Braden Evans. Have you been in touch with him since the adoption?" the reporter asked.

The question caught the teenager completely offguard and she sucked in a startled breath before collecting herself, answering cooly.

"I intend to have nothing to do with my biological brother. As far as I'm concerned, I only have two brothers- Dick and Tim. Thank you."

And with that, she concluded the interview, turning to catch up to Bruce and Dick, who were heading to the limousine. Alfred was patiently holding the door and she ran up, planting a kiss on his cheek before sliding into the car beside her adoptive father and brother. Tim came shortly after and the door was closed before Alfred started the car and merged into the rush hour traffic that they now had to join.

With a mischievious grin, Tim declared that it was time to party. He hopped over next to the stereo and changed to the station to something upbeat with a pounding bass while Dick caught his drift and rolled down the windows from where he sat.

The three youngest occupants of the vehicle immediately began dancing chaotically in their seats, knowing themselves to look ridiculous, but not really caring one way or the other. Meanwhile, Bruce and Alfred shared a look in the rearview mirror. It was moments like this that made everything worth it. Moments like this were what the mission was all about.

_**A/N 2: Just to give you a layout of where my current plan for my AU is headed:**_

_**The next sequel will be a series of oneshots filling up the time from now until Light Shines through the Darkness. It will be integral to the storyline and some chapters will cover episodes while others will be entirely independent. Though, even the episodes will very likely be a stark contrast to themselves due to the integration of Sapphire, Tim, and Bart. Some chapters will be pure Batclan, others all Flash family, and still others a mix of the two groups. This sequel won't last too long, I'm estimating approximately ten chapters overall, but you'll definitely want to keep an eye out for it.**_

_**Light Shines through the Darkness will be a Batclan/Flash family fic, containing Tim, Sapphire, Bruce, Wally, Aaralyn, Bart, and plenty of others. The storyline covers the events of Return of the Joker from the Batman Beyond TV show, telling of the Joker's kidnapping of Tim. It will still be vastly different, due to the placement of characters different than that of the original movie.**_

_**After these, Faith and Sapphire and their respective families will be kept mostly apart, each possibly spinning off into their own directions sequel-wise. I seriously hope to make it this far and have plenty of ideas bouncing around in my head for these. Spoiler: I also intend to bring Damian into the mix, which we all know will bring an entirely new level of disfunction to the Batclan. I can't wait! :P**_

_**Review and let me know what you think- both of the story you've just finished reading, and my ideas for the continuity! :D It was fun!**_


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